Third time around

LOS ANGELES – Beating Washington twice was nice enough for Washington State this season. Now, the Cougars will have to try to prove their in-state superiority for a third time.

The Huskies recovered from a sluggish start Wednesday night in the first round of the Pac-10 men’s basketball tournament to defeat Arizona State 59-51, and in doing so they set up a final rematch with the Cougars in tonight’s quarterfinals.

“I’m extremely proud of our guys’ mental toughness,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. “We got the first one done. We’re excited about it and now we get a chance to move on.”

WSU sat idle as the second seed in the tournament, and it watched the Washington victory from the comfort of a downtown hotel.

Still seeking their first win in the conference tournament since its reintroduction in 2002, the Cougars (24-6) will be the last team to begin play in this year’s tournament at approximately 8:30 p.m., but will play with the burden of expectations.

The Huskies, seeded seventh after an 8-10 regular season in the Pac-10, need to win the conference tournament to have any chance to make the NCAA tournament.

Washington (19-12) has won three consecutive games.

And like the Cougars, Washington played in a season-opening tournament and won three games in three days, so this will not be unfamiliar territory for the Huskies.

“I think we have to do kind of the basics that we talk about all year,” Romar said. “They’re a team that takes advantage of every mistake that you make physically or mentally.”

Tenth-seeded Arizona State (8-22) led by four with 8 minutes to play.

Even after falling behind late, the Sun Devils’ Christian Polk had a chance to bring Arizona State back within a possession in the last minute, but the 81 percent free-throw shooter missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and then fouled Washington’s Ryan Appleby, sending the Huskies’ best shooter to the line to help put the game away.

If nothing else, the Cougars had to be pleased that the Sun Devils and Huskies ended up playing a tight contest that was back-and-forth until the end. The two teams traded leads multiple times in the second half, with Arizona State gamely working its way back from an eight-point halftime deficit.

But as was the case late in the first half, when the Sun Devils squandered a 21-10 lead, they were unable to find good shots down the stretch in the second half.

“We weren’t ready (early),” said UW’s Jon Brockman, who had a game-high 16 points. “It took us being down by 10 to kind of put our foot down and say, ‘That’s enough.’ Defense generates so much for our team and gets us going.”

Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge for the Cougars will be in slowing down Huskies big men Jon Brockman and Spencer Hawes, who combined for 37 points and 19 rebounds in the teams’ last game.

WSU center Aron Baynes, whose late surge has changed the Cougar attack, may need to be at his best against the Washington duo.

“When their perimeter guys play along with their interior guys, they’re very good,” WSU coach Tony Bennett said earlier in the day. “That’s a credit to our league. They knocked off UCLA and that says a lot about how good and how deep our league is. It will be a war, as well. We have to contend with that inside attack of Hawes and Brockman.”

The Cougars haven’t lost to UW in two years, winning four straight in the series, adding fuel to the fire in what has quickly escalated as a basketball rivalry.

“Me personally, having never beaten them, it’s a big game and we know they’re great on defense, great on offense and work together real well,” Brockman said.

A fifth straight win for WSU would send it straight into the semifinal.

“I’m not saying we didn’t believe in past years that we could make a run, but I think it’s more realistic for us now and something we’re really on board with,” WSU’s Robbie Cowgill said. “It’s something that we really want to do and we’re coming here playing some of our best basketball.”

Washington 59, ASU 51

Arizona State (8-22) – Pendergraph 4-9 1-3 9, Angounou 3-11 0-0 8, Atuahene 3-4 2-2 8, Glasser 2-6 3-4 8, Shipp 5-8 0-0 13, Morill 1-3 1-2 3, Polk 1-5 0-1 2, Jones 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-47 7-12 51.

Washington (19-12) – Pondexter 2-4 2-3 6, Brockman 6-11 4-9 16, Hawes 5-13 3-4 13, Dentmon 5-7 0-1 13, Appleby 2-10 5-6 11, Oliver 0-5 0-0 0, Wallace 0-1 0-0 0, Gasser 0-0 0-0 0, Nelson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-52 14-23 59.

Halftime—Washington 32, Arizona State 24. 3-Point Goals—Arizona State 6-20 (Shipp 3-4, Angounou 2-7, Glasser 1-4, Jones 0-1, Morill 0-2, Polk 0-2), Washington 5-15 (Dentmon 3-4, Appleby 2-7, Pondexter 0-1, Nelson 0-1, Oliver 0-2). Fouled Out—Glasser. Rebounds—Arizona State 28 (Pendergraph 7), Washington 39 (Brockman 10). Assists—Arizona State 13 (Atuahene 4), Washington 10 (Dentmon, Hawes 3). Total Fouls—Arizona State 23, Washington 16. A—15,119.

Cal 70, Oregon St. 51

Ryan Anderson scored a career-high 27 points, hitting half of California’s 12 3-pointers, and the Golden Bears beat the Beavers.

The eighth-seeded Golden Bears (15-16) advanced to play No. 1 seed UCLA (26-4) in today’s quarterfinals..

Marcel Jones led the Beavers (11-21) with 21 points.

Oregon State (11-21) – Jones 9-18 1-7 21, Johnson 2-2 0-0 4, Jeffers 2-2 1-2 5, J.Tarver 1-6 5-6 7, Washington 0-3 0-0 0, Hampton 0-0 0-0 0, Tsagarakis 0-1 0-0 0, Schaftenaar 0-1 0-0 0, S.Tarver 1-1 0-0 2, McGillis 0-5 4-4 4, Cuic 0-3 0-0 0, Svilar 3-6 0-0 8. Totals 18-48 11-19 51.

California (15-16)- Robertson 1-7 1-2 3, Pribble 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 9-18 3-4 27, Ubaka 3-10 2-2 10, Wilkes 3-9 3-4 10, Randle 2-5 3-4 8, Fang 0-0 0-0 0, Vierneisel 3-6 0-0 8, Liss 0-0 0-0 0, Armstrong 0-0 0-0 0, Christopher 1-5 0-0 2, Harrison 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 23-63 12-16 70.

Halftime—California 43, Oregon State 25. 3-Point Goals—Oregon State 4-25 (Svilar 2-4, Jones 2-9, Washington 0-1, Tsagarakis 0-1, Cuic 0-3, J.Tarver 0-3, McGillis 0-4), California 12-29 (Anderson 6-10, Vierneisel 2-3, Ubaka 2-6, Randle 1-2, Wilkes 1-4, Pribble 0-1, Christopher 0-1, Robertson 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oregon State 31 (Jones 8), California 44 (Anderson 15). Assists—Oregon State 9 (Washington 3), California 15 (Randle 5). Total Fouls—Oregon State 16, California 16.