Last Thursday’s win over Oregon was without a doubt the biggest win of the season for the Washington men’s basketball team.

Until last night, that is.

The Huskies overcame foul trouble and cold shooting to knock off No. 24 Arizona State 72-61, using another huge night from Jon Brockman to pick up their first Pac-10 road win of the year at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Ariz.

Brockman finished with 21 points and 16 rebounds, registering his conference-leading 13th double-double of the season.

“I would have to say so,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar told KJR sports radio when asked if this was his team’s best win of the year. “For starters, it’s a road game. Secondly, it’s a ranked team. Thirdly, it’s a team that has been playing very good basketball.”

After the Huskies trailed 24-15 early on, it appeared as if they were falling into the same rut that has lost them the majority of their road games during the past season and a half.

“We were rushing our shots too much,” UW forward Quincy Pondexter said. “It took us a while to settle down and get comfortable with how they were playing.”

Joel Smith buried back-to-back threes, Brockman made two lay-ins and Pondexter sank a jumper before the Sun Devils could find the basket again, propelling Washington in front by a score of 27-24 with 4:40 left to play in the half.

“Joel prevented the game from getting away from us early,” Romar told KJR. “Joel hit three [3-pointers] to keep us within striking distance, and we took a step back, took a deep breath and then were able to play better basketball.”

Pondexter finished with 12 points, including 5 of 6 from the free-throw line.

Despite shooting just 34.4 percent from the field, the UW carried a 32-30 lead into halftime. Washington held the Sun Devils to 30.8 percent shooting, and ASU made just 1 of 10 from beyond the arc.

It was the Huskies’ own ability to knock down threes that allowed them to keep the pressure on ASU. Washington converted 6 of 13 three-point tries in the first period — good for a 46.2 percent clip.

ASU freshman guard James Harden was listed as questionable this week due to a groin injury, but once the game started the only question was whether the Huskies could stop him.

In the first half, the answer was no. The freshman phenom led all scorers in the first half with 13 points but didn’t make much noise after that — he scored just four points in the second period. Harden also missed the front end of two one-and-ones down the stretch, squandering multiple chances to cut into the UW lead.

The Huskies (12-7, 3-3 Pac-10) didn’t shoot particularly well in the second half either but put together enough timely shots to develop a rhythm and keep themselves in the driver’s seat.

Washington held ASU — the league’s best three-point shooting team — to just 5 of 24 from beyond the arc.

Ryan Appleby, who struggled for much of the night, dealt what would prove to be the deciding blow by netting a 3-pointer with 3:42 to go that gave Washington a 60-50 lead.

ASU (14-4, 4-2 Pac-10) would get no closer than eight the rest of the way.

And as unlikely as it may seem for this year’s Washington squad, the Huskies got it done at the free-throw line in the second half. The Dawgs shot 15 of 19 from the charity stripe after halftime, while the Sun Devils managed to make just 9 of 14.

The loss is ASU’s first at home this season and extends Washington’s win streak against the Sun Devils to 11 — the longest streak of its kind in the conference.

[Reach reporter Christian Caple at sports@thedaily.washington.edu.]