From ESPN.com:
Arizona State overcame a career-best 37-point performance by O.J. Mayo and took a big step toward an NCAA tournament bid with a 80-66 victory over USC on Saturday.
James Harden, like Mayo a freshman, had 24 points and Jeff Pendergraph 21 to lead the Sun Devils (18-10, 8-8 Pac-10), who haven't been to the tournament since 2003 and were 2-16 in the conference a year ago.
Arizona State dominated the game at the foul line, going 34-of-39 to 10-of-11 for the Trojans, (18-10, 9-7) who missed a chance to move ahead of Washington State into third in the Pac-10 standings.
Normally I don't complain about officiating, but the absolutely lopsided calls in yesterday's game were simply too much. I completely understand the human errors involved with officiating, but a free throw disparity of 28 attempts goes beyond errors and raises some questions of whether there was some serious home cooking going on. To put into perspective, before yesterday's game, the most free throws a Pac-10 opponent has had against SC was Cal with 29; ASU had 36 in the 2nd half alone! Hard to win a game when you're playing 5 on 8. Just have to forget this one and move forward.
