LOS ANGELES — Before the Washington men's basketball team could look ahead to its NCAA Tournament hopes, it had to take care of business last night against Arizona State at the Pac-10 tournament.

For 40 minutes, both teams played like they did not want their season to end, but when it all was said and done it was the Huskies (19-12) who lived to play another day, winning 59-51.

The realization that there could have been no tomorrow was something coach Lorenzo Romar made sure that his players understood.

"We were at a crossroads at that point," he said. "We wanted to make it clear that this was not the time to have no energy."

At the time in question, Washington was down 47-46 with 4:20 remaining. However, the UW quickly scored six of the next seven points and went ahead by four. In desperation, the Sun Devils (8-22, 2-16 Pac-10) began to foul.

After Justin Dentmon missed the front end of a one-and-one, Ryan Appleby was fouled. The junior guard would hit five of six from the charity stripe in order to put the game away for good.

"I'm proud of our guys' mental toughness tonight," Romar said. "But I'm also impressed with Arizona State's coaching staff. They have never quit. This kind of game, unfortunately, has happened to them too often. But I'm glad our guys got the job done."

It was not just in the second half that ASU gave the Huskies fits. For the first 12:30 of the game, Arizona State's defense was able to hold them to just 10 points on 4-16 shooting.

"At first we weren't playing the way we play when we're successful," said sophomore Jon Brockman. "It took us to get down by 10 for us to finally put our foot down and say enough is enough."

For the remaining 7:30 in the half, Washington went on a 22-3 run, going to the break with an eight-point lead, 32-24.

It took big plays from both Husky sophomores, Brockman and Dentmon, to pull it off.

"Jon's dive in the first half might have been one of the most important plays of the game," Romar said. "It really got us going. And Justin hit some big shots for us."

Brockman — once again the Huskies' leading scorer with 16 points — had 12 by halftime, as well as eight of his 10 rebounds.

Dentmon hit two of his three 3-pointers during the prolonged UW scoring run, and finished with 13 points, three assists and only two turnovers.

Despite the obvious swing in momentum and the eight-point lead, the Sun Devils continued to battle back, opening the second half much like the first: with tough defense and good shooting.

They were able to take the lead by way of a 15-6 run. Jarren Shipp continued his hot shooting in the second half and led the Sun Devils with 13 points.

Washington was able to overcome the deficit, something that the team has not been credited much with on the road this season. Now that the UW is finally aware of how close it is to having its NCAA Tournament hopes killed, Romar does not expect there to be a lapse in focus again with Washington State up tomorrow at 8:30 p.m.

"We're believing that we'll handle it the right way," Romar said of the game against the Cougars. "It's another game that we have to win. The opposition is irrelevant."

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