Washington Retains Title Shot With Flashback Effort

Not much has changed between Washington and Arizona State since they met in their Pacific 10 Conference opener in late December.

Mike Jensen made four of five three-point attempts and scored 14 points and the 14th-ranked Huskies turned it on in the second half on their way to a 91-66 victory Thursday night over the Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz.

Washington, 23-5 overall and 12-5 in the Pacific 10 Conference, trails UCLA by one game and retained a shot at a share of the Pac-10 regular-season title. The game nearly duplicated their Dec. 29 meeting against Arizona State at Seattle, when the Huskies led, 40-38, at halftime before winning, 91-67.

In that game, Brandon Roy scored a career-high 35 points for Washington. This time, the Huskies buried Arizona State with balance.

“Guys made shots tonight,” Roy said. “It didn’t have to be a ‘Brandon Roy makes shots down the stretch’ night, and that’s fine with me.”

Roy was one of four Washington players with 13 points, ending his string of nine consecutive games of at least 20 points. The streak was the longest in the Huskies’ record books dating to 1960.

“They did a good job of pressing up on him, trying to put a stronger guy on him,” Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar said. “But what ended up happening is it just opened up everyone else.”

Roy fell one free throw shy of the Washington record of 33 straight when he missed his first attempt of the game.

Jamaal Williams, Ryan Appleby and Jon Brockman added 13 points apiece.

Kevin Kruger scored 23 for Arizona State (10-16, 4-13), 19 in the first half. The Sun Devils led, 40-38, at the half. The Huskies had Roy defend Kruger in the second half.

Washington scored the first 11 points of the second half en route to an 18-4 run that put the Huskies up, 56-44, on Williams’ hook shot with 13:22 to play.

Arizona 66, Washington State 61 -- Marcus Williams had 17 points and Mustafa Shakur added 13 at Tucson to move the Wildcats (18-10, 11-6) closer to their 22nd straight NCAA tournament appearance, the nation’s longest active streak.

Arizona, winner of five of its last six, also has won 41 of 42 games against Washington State, with the Cougars’ lone victory in that span coming a year ago at Tucson.

Kyle Weaver had 12 points to lead Washington State (11-15, 4-13) in its first game since Coach Dick Bennett announced he would retire after the season.

In a pre-game ceremony, Arizona Coach Lute Olson announced that the Wildcats would treat Bennett to a weekend at a Tucson golf resort.