Forget Herb Sendek going for win number 300, and forget Oregon’s 10th straight loss in the Pacific-10 Conference.
Thursday night was all about James Harden’s 36.
The Arizona State sophomore guard scored 36 points to lead No. 24 ASU (17-5, 6-4 Pac-10) to a 66-57 win over Oregon (6-16, 0-10) at McArthur Court, dominating the game in the second half and turning what was a tight halftime game to a personal performance down the stretch.
After scoring 13 points at halftime, Harden put up 23 of his team’s 34 points in the second half, including nine straight at one point that put Arizona State up 56-45 with 5:48 remaining. During that stretch, the 6-foot-5 player threw down a lefthanded dunk over a helpless Duck defender that drew a foul and a hush from the crowd of 7,670.
The Sun Devils snapped their two-game losing streak from last week against the Washington schools, and got head coach Herb Sendek career win No. 300, making him the second-youngest active coach with 300 Division I wins behind Florida’s Billy Donovan.
Harden’s 36 points are the most by a Pac-10 player this season in a league game.
And yet, he wasn’t all that impressed.
“I played all right, could have been better, especially on the defensive end,” he said.
Oregon tied the game four times in the first half, the last coming on a fadeaway jumper by sophomore guard Kamyron Brown from 15 feet that knotted the game at 25 points apiece with 3:44 remaining in the first half. After a series of free throws by Oregon cut the lead to one with just under a minute and a half left, Harden made two free throws and made a transition layup to push the Sun Devils ahead 32-27.
But just as against Oregon State, the Ducks couldn’t keep the game close from the beginning moments of the second half.
Harden scored on consecutive three-pointers from the right corner after the Sun Devils’ excellent ball movement found holes on the Ducks’ 3-2 matchup zone defense that looked a pass behind on its rotations.
“That was the game right there,” junior guard Tajuan Porter said of the Ducks’ second straight poor performance to open the second half.
After ASU went up by 13 points, the Ducks went on a 7-0 run ending with Joevan Catron scoring a layup with 8:50 remaining that cut the ASU lead to seven points.
For the second time during the night, McArthur Court’s fans made the building rock until – who else? – Harden scored a wild layup in the lane over two defenders to stop the momentum.
“It’s a great environment,” Harden said. “There’s nothing like it, especially on the road, in front of a big crowd and hushing them up. Things like that are what get you going.”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent felt his players came out and played well in the first half and at stretches during the second, but just couldn’t keep up with Harden.
“We just didn’t have an answer for him,” Kent said. “He was controlling the whole game.”
The Ducks shot 50 percent in the first half, but their 7-of-21 shooting in the second doomed their chances, despite Tajuan Porter’s team-high 18 points, including four three-pointers. No other Duck player scored in double figures.
Oregon is now one loss away from tying the 1992-93 Duck team’s record for futility to start the Pac-10 season.
Junior forward Joevan Catron finished with nine points and a team-high six rebounds, but wasn’t happy with his team’s effort level.
“I’m not satisfied at all,” he said. “We’re still losing.”
After Harden, ASU senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, with the third-best shooting percentage in the nation, scored 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
As a team ASU shot 16-of-17 from the line, while Oregon made 15 shots of 23 chances.
The Sun Devils played without their third-leading scorer, sophomore forward Rihards Suksis, who was out with a virus.
ASU junior point guard Derek Glasser had a scary moment when he took a shoulder from Catron to the neck late in the second half, leaving his motionless on the floor with over a minute left. Glasser suffered a concussion against Washington last Saturday and was questionable for the game.
A team spokesman said Glasser was diagnosed with a neck injury and that he was being taken for X-rays tonight.
Oregon hosts Arizona on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., a game that will be televised on ABC.
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