A 23-point lead was almost not enough for the Washington basketball team to overcome a winless road record this season. Last night, with the game well in doubt and under a minute to play, Justin Dentmon sent in a floating shot from five feet that saved the game for Washington.

In one of their worst halves since the Washington State game on Jan. 20, the Huskies were able to bail enough water to keep the ship — as well as their NCAA Tournament hopes — afloat, beating Arizona State 66-61.

For the first half, Washington (14-7 overall, 4-6 Pac-10) looked like a dominant force, outscoring the Sun Devils (6-15 overall, 1-10 Pac-10) 44-21 and shooting 65 percent from the floor. The team took care of the ball with only six turnovers and was able to get the whole team involved.

With 11 team assists, several of the Huskies were able to get their points in the first half, with Spencer Hawes leading the way with 10.

Defensively, the team held their opponent to a season-low 21 points in the first half, the lowest since holding Nicholls State to 22 in the second game of the schedule.

However, when the half ended and the second began, the strong, confident Huskies were replaced by the timid ones well accustomed to the season-long struggles away from home.

"In the first half we were moving the ball and attacking," Dentmon told KJR radio. "In the second half we were waiting too long and taking bad shots. We were being too tentative and not moving the ball around."

Taking part of the credit for the Huskies' struggles was the suddenly airtight defense of Arizona State. After taking care of the ball during the first half, the Huskies were responsible for a reprehensible 10 turnovers in the second half.

"We should have done a better job handling that zone," coach Lorenzo Romar told KJR. "Our guys could have done a better job of taking care of the ball, but we could have done a better job giving them direction."

The Sun Devils also profited from a big second half from freshman Christian Polk, who scored nine of his 18 points in the second half.

Despite losing coach Herb Sendek to a double technical with 13:16 remaining in the game, his young team rode an early 17-4 run in the first eight minutes of the half and managed to outscore Washington 40-22 after intermission. Half of those points came from the free throw line, as the Sun Devils shot a perfect 20-20 from the stripe.

Aside from the last-minute heroics of Dentmon — who also finished with 13 points — the Huskies received yet another big performance from Jon Brockman. Brockman led the team with 15 points and added 12 rebounds in another double-double effort. With 10, the captain leads the conference in that category.

Despite knocking down just 22 points in the second half, Romar said that there is plenty to be proud of about his team's effort last night.

"I'm a glass-is-full kind of guy," Romar told KJR. "And what I'm going to remember from this game is how well we played in the first half. It was the best half we had played all season. We played incredible basketball, and that is what we will take with us to Tucson."

Reach reporter Justin Chartrey at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.