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Fists fly after ASU win

The Arizona State Sun Devils and USC Trojans played a physical game for 40 minutes with ASU pulling out a 93-81 victory.

Unfortunately, 40 minutes wasn't enough for a couple of players on both sides and during the handshakes after the game, fists were flying.

Players from both teams began shoving and kicking while fans were spilling onto the floor. Police and security eventually got the commotion under control, but not before Trojan guard Jeff Trepagnier and ASU forward Awvee Storey could have it out.

Trepagnier knocked Storey down as they were walking to the locker rooms, but it was prompted by technical fouls given to each player resulting from a confrontation during the first half.

In all, 58 fouls were issued during the game, 32 to the Sun Devils.

This type of physical game was predicted on Friday night, when a gymnastics meet in Wells Fargo Arena forced both teams to practice in the Student Recreation Center.

ASU officials also said the Trojans took an extra 40 minutes of shootaround time Friday night, and when practice basketballs were returned by the Trojans prior to the game on Saturday, they had obscenities scratched into them.

There was, however, a game played and Sun Devil's senior guard Eddie House continued his Pacific 10 Conference domination, scoring 28 points. ASU was also led by Tanner Shell with 17, Shawn Redhage with 12, and Chad Prewitt who had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Brandon Glanville led all USC scorers with 22, while Brian Scalabrine scored 17 points, marking the first time in five games he failed to reach the 20-point plateau.

The Trojans now drop to 6-6 in the conference, which mathematically eliminates them from title contention.

With USC in a tail spin since beating Arizona on Jan. 22 and the UCLA Bruins struggling all season long, the L.A. schools in the Pac-10 are losing respect.

The Trojans are 1-6 since starting the Pac-10 undefeated at 5-0 with hopes of a conference title, and the Bruins are 4-8 overall, losing six of seven games.

In fact, the only UCLA win came against the Trojans, 83-78 on Feb. 9 at Pauley Pavilion.

"We are struggling right now," UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said following the Bruins 99-84 loss to Arizona on Saturday. "We have lost six of our last seven games. Three of those losses were to Stanford, Syracuse and Arizona, who are all in the top 10. The other losses are the ones that hurt the most. We're running out of rope. Our backs are up against the wall."

For the two to sneak into the NCAA Tournament, the Trojans will have to win the bulk of its remaining six games and UCLA is going to have to win-out in the conference.

These are not easy tasks for either team as both teams have to play Oregon at home and still have to travel up to Northern California to face Stanford and Cal.

With Cincinnati losing to Temple on Sunday, room was left at the top of the polls and the Stanford Cardinal was there to claim the honor.

After handing California its worst loss ever - 101-50 at Maples Pavilion on Saturday - the Cardinal were voted to the top spot in both the ESPN/USA Today coaches' basketball poll and the Associated Press college basketball poll.

Cincinnati, which had its 42-game home winning streak snapped, fell two spots to number three. Duke moved up, while Arizona remained in fourth. Michigan State rounded out the top five in both polls.