• UW 84, ASU 71
TEMPE, Ariz.—Washington and Arizona State watched the same game Saturday, and they read the same statistics.

But the Huskies’ 84-71 win over the Sun Devils at Wells Fargo Arena registered differently with each team.

Washington coach Lorenzo Romar acknowledged guard Justin Dentmon’s career-high 30 points and guard Isaiah Thomas’ 25. But he emphasized the quieter contributions of Darnell Gant and Justin Holiday.

“Justin Holiday gets 10 rebounds, gets deflections,” Romar said. “Darnell Gant did a very good job early in the game guarding James Harden. Those two guys, it’s what makes you proud of a team. … If those guys don’t contribute behind the scenes, we don’t win this game.”

From the Arizona State point of view, it was the Washington guards that did them in.

“Our guards, I think, have got to pick it up and be like, ‘I’m tired of getting slapped in the mouth by these other teams guard who drop in 30 pointers on us,’” said senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, who did his part with 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

“That’s back-to-back games that multiple guards have got 20-plus points. You’ve got to draw a line in the sand and say, ‘Enough is enough, I’m not going to let these guys who play in my area the whole game bust my butt.’”

Dentmon, who has scored 20 or more points in three of the past four games, was 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including 4-of-7 on 3-pointers.

“I was just thinking like, ‘Shoot! You’re open, just shoot it,’” Dentmon said. “Since I had a hot hand, coach said they were going to look for me.”

Romar also made another decision that would have a major impact. Without a big guard to match up with the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Harden, he decided on Gant a 6-8, 210-pound forward.

“As soon as he told me, I was ready,” Gant said. “I was focused since 12 o’clock (Friday). I knew what I had to do. … (The coaches) told me deny. And if he does catch the ball, back off of him a little bit. But if he gives it up, pressure up, don’t let him get it back. That was the main objective.”

The coaches also sent plenty of double-team help. And they threw a variety of players at Harden, as Holiday and Quincy Pondexter and even Dentmon took their turns.

The Pacific-10 Conference’s leading scorer didn’t get his first point until more than 16 minutes had passed. He ended with 15, seven below his season average. He missed all four of his 3-pointers but snagged 15 rebounds with five assists.

“The past five or six games, I’ve been trying to get my teammates the ball,” he said. “… It was just one of those days. It wasn’t their defense, it was basically me.”

Washington broke a 12-12 tie with a 9-0 run fueled by 3-pointers: first by Elston Turner, then two more by Dentmon. UW built the lead from there, peaking at 19 points early in the second half. And while Arizona State (16-5 overall, 5-4 Pac-10) cut the margin to single digits with about seven minutes left, UW built its lead back up from there.

“Great gut check win for our guys,” Romar said.

The win gave the Huskies a split on their Arizona trip, bouncing back after a 106-97 loss at Arizona on Thursday.

“It’s huge getting this split on the road,” captain Jon Brockman said. “You come out and don’t play your best basketball on Thursday; to be bounce back on the road, it’s a tough thing to do. The guys showed a lot of maturity. J.D. really put us on his back tonight.”

The victory keeps Washington (16-5, 7-2) tied with UCLA atop the conference standings as the season hit its halfway point.

“I think we can be competitive with any team in this league, there’s no doubt about that,” Romar said. “We have some different challenges. We have some tough road games: four of the next six are on the road. But we’re going into the second half of this conference (in first place).”