TEMPE, Ariz. (AP)—Jeff Pendergraph scored a career-high 27 points and James Harden added 13 second-half points to lead Arizona State past Idaho 76-65 Saturday.
Harden finished with 17 points, Ty Abbott added 16 and Jerren Shipp had 10 for the Sun Devils (9-2), who have won five straight games for the first time since 2004.
Pendergraph, a junior forward who added 10 rebounds for his 16th career double-double and third of the season, was 7-for-9 from the floor and 13-for-14 from the free-throw line.
Mike Hall had 18 points to lead Idaho (3-8), which kept the game close with a season-best 13 3-pointers.
The Vandals was 13-for-23 from beyond the arc but just 8-for-19 on 2-point attempts.
After Darin Nagle’s off-balance 3-pointer pulled Idaho within 39-38—the closest the Vandals had been since the game’s opening four minutes—Shipp sank a 3-pointer from the corner to start an 8-0 run that put the Sun Devils ahead 47-38 with 15:33 to go.
Idaho battled back to within 54-50 when Jordan Brooks completed a three-point play with 11:26 to go. But Harden scored eight straight points and Pendergraph added a short jumper to extend Arizona State’s lead back to 66-57.
Pendergraph had eight points in the game’s first six minutes as the Sun Devils opened an early 13-5 lead with 12:38 left in the first half.
But then the 3-pointers started falling for the Vandals.
Hall and Terrence Simmons had three 3-pointers and Clyde Johnson sank another with 2.2 seconds left in the first half to cut a one-time 11-point Arizona State lead to 34-32.
