After a relatively low scoring game, especially in the first half, Arizona St. outdistanced Oregon St. in a blistering paced overtime, in which the Sun Devils capitalized on several crucial errors by the Beavers to take the 86-82 win.
The Sun Devils' 7'2" Jordan Bachynski, who became the all-time conference leader in blocked shots with 28 seconds left in regulation on a shot by Eric Moreland that helped force overtime, fouled out midway in the extra 5 minute period, with Arizona St. up by 3 points. But Daniel Gomis made only the second of two free throws.
After Jermaine Marshall's basket and an Oregon St. timeout, Angus Brandt turned the ball over, and committed his 5th foul.
After Jahii Carson converted both free throws, Devon Collier couldn't convert the "and one".
And with less than a minute left in overtime, Roberto Nelson committed Oregon St.'s 15th turnover of the game, leading to a 3 pointer by Jonathan Gilling that put Arizona St. up by 9 points, making it 83-74.
Nelson would still knock down a pair of 3 pointers, which moved him past Charlie Sitton into 5th place all time in scoring at Oregon St., but the deficit was too large, and Marshall iced the late night win with a pair of free throws with 1.1 seconds left.
Oregon St. had the upper hand almost the entire first half, leading the rest of the way after a Langston Morris-Walker 3 pointer erased an early Arizona St. 5-2 lead. There was a lot of open court action early, but not a lot of accurate shooting, as the teams combined to make only 6 of the first 20 shots of the game.
The score was only 14-9 at the second media time out at the 11:57 mark, as Arizona St. started the game shooting just 4 of 15 from the floor.
The Sun Devil student section was waiting to erupt until Arizona St. scored their 13th point of the game, to honor alum James Hardin, who wore #13. They had to wait until there was only 8 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
Bachynski carried Arizona St. early, with 8 points and 6 rebounds in the first 15 minutes of the game, but Oregon St.'s Hallice Cooke, the conference's leading 3 point shooter, connected on a pair of first half 3 pointers, and Brande also had 6 points, as the Beavers opened their largest lead of the game, going up 28-20, and 29-22 shortly thereafter.
And they did it with next to no help from Nelson, the Pac-12's leading scorer, who had only the first 2 points of the game in the first half.
Carson, the third leading scorer in the conference, wasn't doing that much better, with only 5 points at that point. But he did hit 4 consecutive free throws after that, and Oregon St. couldn't get a good shot despite taking a time out with over 26 seconds left before the break. As a result, the Beavers took only a 3 point, 29-26 lead to the locker room.
Arizona St. responded to coach Herb Sendek's halftime adjustments, and stormed out to start the second half. Marshall tied the game with a 3 pointer, and after Cooke had answered with a 3 of his own, went on a 6-0 run to take the lead.
After a charging call on Moreland, the run extended to 8-0, the last 4 by Carson, and Arizona St. eventually made it a 14-5 stretch to take a 40-34 lead.
Oregon St. had trouble making headway during a stretch of over 4 minutes in which neither team made a shot from the floor, and wouldn't catch up until a 6-0 run, with Collier delivering the last 4 points, tied the game at 55 apiece with only 5:48 left. During that time Arizona St.'s Eric Jacobson had fouled out with 8 1/2 minutes left, and having played only about 10 minutes.
Arizona St. answered with a 4-0 run, and Oregon St. couldn't get closer than 1 point, including when Bachynski made his record setting block of Moreland's shot (his 279th!) that would have put Oregon St. ahead with 28 seconds left, until Nelson was able to tie the game up with just under 20 seconds left.
The Sun Devils wound the clock down, but Carson couldn't connect on a game winning shot, and it was on to overtime with the score tied at 64 apiece.
The Beavers appeared to seize control after back to back blocked shots by Moreland and Brandt, followed by a 3 pointer by Brandt, but both Marshall and Gilling knocked down 3 pointers of their own, as the Sun Devils went on an 8-2 run prior to Bachynski's foul, which looked like it could be another pivotal point in the game.
But the Beavers couldn't capitalize on the departure of the Sun Devil's big man, and saw the game slip away.
Nelson finished with a game high 26 points, on 6 of 7 free throw shooting and 4 of 5 3 point shooting, edging Marshall, who had 25 for Arizona St., all but 3 of which came after half time.
Carson finished with 23 points, including 13 from the free throw line, on 18 attempts.
Free throws were the story of the game, with Arizona St. making 25 of 40, compared to Oregon St., which only took 18 free throws, 12 of which they made.
"This was a very physical game, and I don't think that was indicated in the foul shots or the fouls," Oregon St. coach Craig Robinson felt. "That happens when you are on the road, so I'm not crying over spilled milk. I was just happy our guys fought so hard and were able to bring it back and force overtime."
Bachynski had the only double double of the night, with 17 points and 15 rebounds to go with his 7 blocked shots.
Both Brandt and Collier had 13 points, while Moreland had only 8, but a game high 17 rebounds. Cooke contributed 11, after making 3 of 4 3 pointers on the night.
Oregon St. out-boarded Arizona St. 47-43, but the Sun Devils had an 18-10 edge in assists, 8 steals to only 1 by the Beavers, and an 8-5 edge in blocked shots, thanks to Bachynski.
Oregon St. dropped to 13-9 for the season, and 5-5 in the Pac-12, missing their chance for their best start to the conference race after 10 games in 21 years. The Beavers dropped into a tie for 7th with Washington, 4 games behind conference leading Arizona as a result.
The Huskies fell 78-69 at Utah tonight, while Arizona pulled out a 67-65 win over visiting Oregon.
The Beavers visit the Wildcats Sunday.
Arizona St. improved to 17-6, and 6-4 in the Pac-12, and into a 4 way tie with California, Stanford, and Colorado for 3rd place in the conference race, 3 games back.
5,815 fans turned out for the game that had its start held up due to the long running Oregon-Arizona game, and didn't start until 10 minutes after 9 local time on a week night, and didn't end until 20 minutes before midnight.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com