Feb. 10, 2005
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Dijon Thompson scored 27 of his career-high 39 points in the first half, and Jordan Farmar got all 18 of his points in the second half, powering UCLA to a 95-76 victory over Arizona State on Thursday night.
Brian Morrison added 13 points for the Bruins (13-7, 7-5 Pac-10), who completed a sweep of the Sun Devils after beating them 86-82 on Jan. 13 at Tempe to end Arizona State's nine-game home winning streak.
Steve Moore scored a season-high 31 points for the Sun Devils (16-8, 5-7), connecting on eight 3-point shots. Ike Diogu, who has scored in double digits in all 82 of his collegiate games, finished with 20 after averaging 37 points in his previous two against Stanford and California.
Farmar, who played 13 scoreless minutes in the first half and took only two shots, got his first 11 points in a 2{-minute span to give UCLA a 60-42 lead with 14:52 remaining. The freshman point guard finally broke into the scoring column on a 3-pointer with 2:37 into the second half.
The Bruins, coming off an 82-70 loss at Washington on Saturday in which they allowed 22 offensive rebounds by the Huskies and committed 23 turnovers, scored the final eight points of the first half to take a 46-32 lead.
Thompson, who entered the game shooting 48.9 percent from the field, was 10-for-12 before intermission. He didn't score again until his 3-pointer gave UCLA a 66-51 lead with 10:59 to play. Thompson's dunk with 3:51 left extended the margin to 86-66, and Arizona State got no closer than 16 points after that.
Thompson, who recorded his previous career best with 29 points on Dec. 18 against Michigan - and matched that total on Jan. 8 against Washington - scored 19 of the Bruins' first 22 points against the Sun Devils. But all that got UCLA was a tie score with 8:15 left in the half.
Neither team led by more than four until Morrison and Thompson made consecutive 3-pointers to cap an 18-9 run and give UCLA a 33-25 advantage with 4:41 left before intermission.
Moore drained three shots from 3-point range during that stretch for the Sun Devils, who made only five field goals in the final 15 minutes of the half and ended it 10-for-27 compared to UCLA's 54.5 percent.