As hard as he tried, Luke Ridnour couldn’t be a monster. He couldn’t be Ike Diogu.
The Arizona State Sun Devils like Ike, their beast, for a reason.
The 6-foot-8, 250-pound freshman bruised Oregon’s best shot at a fourth-place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference as he posted 17 points and 14 rebounds Thursday in Arizona State’s 91-77 win at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.
The Ducks (20-8 overall, 10-7 Pac-10) fell to 3-5 on the road in league play, and must win at No. 1 Arizona
on Saturday to secure fourth place in the conference.
Now tied for fourth, Oregon and ASU will meet again next Thursday in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, regardless of what happens in the regular-season finale Saturday.

If the tournament game is as good as Thursday night’s contest — which was closer than the final score indicates — it should be a dandy.
“This was a hard-fought basketball game,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent told KUGN-radio after the game. “It was a good battle. But we’ve got to regroup. You have to put it behind you.”
After blazing through the first half with 20 points, Ridnour was held in check in the second half. He fouled out with 1:02 left (and had three offensive fouls), and finished with 26 points, seven rebounds, six assists, but seven turnovers.
“It was a very good first half for us,” Kent said of the Ducks’ 45-41 lead at the break. “In the second half, though, they became the aggressor and we went away from our game plan.”
Diogu tipped in his own miss to cap off a 12-0 run early in the second half to give the Sun Devils (18-10, 10-7) a 55-47 lead. Ridnour hit a three-pointer with 7:16 to play to cut Arizona State’s lead to 69-66, but that’s as close as the Ducks would get the rest of the way. ASU responded with an 11-1 run, which included a Diogu layin and a Tommy Smith dunk.
Ridnour tried to spark the Ducks during the Sun Devils’ run, but was called for a controversial charging foul. One official had called a blocking foul on Arizona State’s Kyle Dodd, another the charge on Ridnour. After conferring, the call went to the Sun Devils.
“When one team becomes the aggressor, the calls tend to go their way,” Kent said.

ASU’s Curtis Millage hit all eight of his free throw attempts in the final 1:31.
Diogu, a contender for the Pac-10 Player of the Year award, put the stamp on the win by blocking a Ridnour layin attempt with about two minutes to play.
“Diogu was a load in there,” Kent said.
Luke Jackson had 20 points for the Ducks, but didn’t score his first points of the second half until the final
92 seconds.
The Sun Devils, needing the win to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament, got 27 points from Millage while Smith added 24.
“Arizona State was in a must-win situation, and they got it done,” Kent said.
Ridnour connected on four threes and hit 7-of-11 of his shots to lead Oregon to 51.5 percent shooting. In the second half, though, the Ducks shot just 31 percent.
Jackson scored Oregon’s first seven points and had 12 first-half points, but sat the final 8:36 of the opening period after picking up his second foul.
The Ducks travel to Tucson to face top-ranked Arizona at 1 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on CBS.