Oregon State
Arizona St
OSU Falls To ASU
March 08, 2003 | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Ike Diogu scored 18 points and Curtis Millage and Tommy Smith each added 17 as Arizona State knocked off visiting Oregon State 74-64 Saturday to lock up fourth place in the Pac-10.
Smith also had 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double.
The Sun Devils (19-10, 11-7) strongly improved the chance of their first NCAA tournament berth since 1995 by sweeping the Oregon schools on the final regular-season weekend. They beat Oregon 91-77 on Thursday and will face the fifth-place Ducks in the first round of the conference tournament this week.
Oregon State (13-14, 6-12) got 16 points from Phillip Ricci and 14 from Brian Jackson.
Ricci scored 13 points in the first half, while getting Diogu in foul trouble. Diogu, the only freshman in the conference to score in double figures every game, picked up his third foul with 5:00 left before the half.
But Smith and Shawn Redhage, who had nine rebounds, were able to pick up the slack on the boards.
The Sun Devils led 45-38 at the half.
Oregon State was able to stay close for most of the second half, and pulled within 59-58 at the 6:42 mark on a 3-pointer by Jimmie Haywood.
But Arizona State closed out the game with a 15-6 run capped by Smith's Smith layup with 35 seconds left.
Kyle Dodd, a nonstarter most of the season, had six points and eight assists for Arizona State, which got no points from its bench.
