March 5, 2005
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Salim Stoudamire hit a double-pump 14-footer with six-tenths of a second to play to give 11th-ranked Arizona a 70-68 victory over Arizona State Saturday and the outright Pac-10 regular-season title.
Arizona coach Lute Olson earned his 305th conference victory to break the Pac-10 record of 304 held by John Wooden.
The Wildcats (25-5, 15-3) won their 11th conference title and ninth outright after No. 10 Washington lost at Stanford earlier in the day, but Arizona's 20th victory in its last 21 meetings with Arizona State was a thriller.
The Sun Devils (18-12, 7-11) rallied from 18 down in the first half to pull within one at the break, and from 15 in the second half to take the lead.
Stoudamire scored 22, but just four in the second half. His game-winner was his only field goal after halftime. Replays showed he may have shuffled his feet on the play, but there was no whistle. Kevin Kruger's desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer was far short.
Hassan Adams scored all 15 of his points in the second half for Arizona. Mustafa Shakur added 14 points. Channing Frye had 10 points and nine rebounds but was just 3-for-11 shooting.
Ike Diogu, the Pac-10 scoring and rebound leader, scored 25 points and played the last 11 minutes with four fouls. Steve Moore added 16 points. Jason Braxton had nine points, seven assists and nine rebounds in his final home game for ASU.
Diogu's two free throws tied it at 68 with 48 seconds to play. Adams missed for Arizona, but Stoudamire came away with the ball and Olson called a timeout with 20 seconds to left. Stoudamire took the inbound pass, dribbled down the clock, then had to double-pump against Braxton's tight defense before lofting it in.
Rob Evans fell to 1-14 against Olson in seven seasons as the Sun Devils' coach.
Arizona scored 19 in a row early to go up 22-4, but Arizona State rallied and Kruger's 3-pointer with 3 seconds left cut the lead to 37-36 at the half.
Adams scored the last nine in an 11-0 run to start the second half to put Arizona up 48-36 with 17:25 to go. During the surge, Stoudamire threw a lob pass above the rim to Adams, who was fouled by Diogu and crashed to the floor. Referee Charlie Range called a flagrant foul, much to the dismay of the Sun Devils' coaching staff.
Adams made one of two free throws, Arizona got the ball, then Adams scored inside for what amounted to a five-point play. Diogu went to the bench with four fouls with 15:58 to play.
While he was gone, the Wildcats scored seven straight to take a 58-43 lead with 11:48 remaining.
The Sun Devils came back again, though. Diogu returned and Arizona State scored 13 points in a row, capped by 3-pointers from Moore and Diogu, to cut it to 58-56 7:32 from the finish. Diogu's 3-pointer cut it to 60-59 with 5:26 to go, then Braxton's inside basket gave Arizona State its first lead since the game's opening minutes, 61-60, with 4:26 to play.
The lead changed hands twice and there were three ties before Stoudamire's winner.