Arizona State sweeps Arizona

TUCSON – In Jeff Pendergraph’s first two visits to the McKale Center, Arizona beat Arizona State by a combined 45 points.

Now a junior with the vastly improved Sun Devils, Pendergraph scored a career-high 29 points, and Arizona State rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to defeat Arizona, 59-54, Sunday afternoon.

“I wasn’t losing today,” Pendergraph said. “That was my whole mind-set: whatever I’ve got to do to get us going and keep us in this game.”

Pendergraph made 12 of 16 shots and had a game-high eight rebounds as the Sun Devils swept the season series for the first time since 1995, ending a 12-year drought in Tucson.

Arizona State, 15-7 overall and 5-5 in the Pacific 10 Conference, needed all of Pendergraph’s production to overcome a career-high 39 points by Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless, who made his first seven shots, including four from three-point range. Bayless came within two points of the McKale Center scoring record of 41 points for an Arizona player, set by former Wildcat Al Fleming against Detroit on Jan. 10, 1976.

Bayless, who missed a potential tying three-pointer with three seconds to play, went 12 for 18 from the field and six for 10 from beyond the arc. But he had little help from his teammates, who shot a combined three for 23 from the floor and one for 10 three-point range.

Chase Budinger went one for 12 for Arizona (15-8, 5-5) and scored four points.

After falling behind, 22-6, the Sun Devils outscored the Wildcats, 53-32.

“Poise and composure,” Pendergraph said. “That was the whole thing.”