TEMPE, Ariz. - Oregon State was zoned out on Saturday in a 72-53 Pacific-10 Conference men’s basketball loss to Arizona State.

A stagnant offense left the Beavers dead in the water before a crowd of 7,648 at Wells Fargo Arena that included ex-OSU football coach Dennis Erickson and more sharpshooting from two ASU students during time-out promotions than most of the Beavers.

OSU (6-8, 0-2) had only nine assists on 19 baskets, shot 33 percent from the field, got only six combined points from Marcel Jones (5) and Seth Tarver (1) and had 17 turnovers in taking a step backwards from an encouraging loss at Arizona on Thursday.

“There are parts that are no where near where they need to be,” coach Jay John said as players quietly filed out of the locker room after their fourth loss in a row. “When our two leading scorers get six points, we’re not going to be very good.

“Jeff Pendergraph was a man, we got in foul trouble and they really took advantage of us. It was a real butt-kicking.”

ASU freshman sensation James Hardin had 16 of his 24 points in the first half. Pendergraph added 18, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked four shots - two on impressive rejections during the same possession late in the game - as ASU (12-2) improved to 2-0 in the Pac-10 for the first time since 1987-88 and for only the third time since joining the conference.

“The key was our defense,” said ASU coach Herb Sendek, whose name was briefly in the mix for an OSU coaching vacancy in 1996, when he was at Miami (Ohio), before he moved on to North Carolina State.

He attributed OSU’s overall shooting (.333), 3-point shooting (.292) and 17 giveaways to “talking, communicating and adjusting to the variety of things presented to us. Those were some really positive numbers for us.”

Sophomore guard Josh Tarver said OSU got flustered on both ends of the court.

“We were kind of stagnant. That cost us, and helped them,” he said. “We got down and it’s tough to fight back” on the road.

“If we would have moved and got a good shot, that would have been fine but we were forcing things and had more turnovers than assists and that hurt us.“

Tarver did drain a desperation 35-footer as the shot clock expired to salvage one second-half possession - “That’s definitely not a set play,” he joked - but two ASU students got a bigger rise out of the crowd than any Beaver.

On one promotion, a student hit a layup, a free throw and a 3-pointer before bouncing a half-court shot off the rim, all within 30 seconds. Had he made all four, he would have earned $2,500 towards his tuition.

The other made 4 of 5 free throws to give everyone in the crowd 40 percent off all merchandise at the nearby ASU Stadium Shop after the game.

And there was Hardin, a bulky 6-foot-4 McDonald’s All-American from Los Angeles, ASU’s first such star in 27 years. His 16 first-half points helped ASU establish a 32-24 intermission lead. Any suspense then evaporated when OSU missed 12 of its first 15 second-half shots; OSU never made a run and trailed by double digits for the final 14 minutes.

“He pretty much dominated,” Tarver said. “He creates contact, which we don’t see that much, and it’s tough for a defender to guard him.“

ASU was 17 of 18 from the line in the second half and scored numerous times in the final seconds of the shot clock on easy dunks and layins when OSU failed to rotate over and help out defensively.

The Beavers were outscored 90-60 in the second half on this trip.

“The first half we weren’t bad, we had some patience,” John said. “The connecting point (was), we didn’t get as many offensive rebounds for the number of shots we missed. That was a big thing we talked about.

“And as much as (he told players) they can’t let what happens on offense impact defense, it did. Our best guy on Hardin was Calvin Haynes, and that’s not something we thought would be the deal” in drawing up the game plan.

“He had 16 in the first half, half their points. We just didn’t get a defensive performance we thought we would out of Marcel or Seth.”

Center C. J. Giles returned from a one-game suspension but wasn’t a factor. He didn’t take a shot until the 11-minute mark of the second half and had two points and three rebounds in 16 minutes. He fouled out for the fourth time in six games with 4:13 remaining and was showered by catcalls of “rock chalk Jayhawk” from the 200 or so ASU students who bothered to show up as he left the court.

“I think (Giles) is impatient,” John said. “He wants to cut and get the ball right away but the zone hasn’t shifted yet. Big men have to work from behind, when they’re looking the other way, and then flash.

“He’s coming so early, everybody can bump off and find him, whereas Omari (Johnson) is getting touches because his recognition on when to go is better. And it does help (for the team) to shoot a little better.“

Ironically, OSU’s best 3-point shooters were Josh Tarver (2-5), Haynes (2-5) and Lathen Wallace (2-2), who were a combined 12-for-60 before Saturday.

Wallace and Haynes each had career-high 10 points and Tarver led with 14. Johnson added 11 but everyone else had just eight combined in its lowest-scoring game of the winter.

“Lathen’s effort in practice and commitment has drastically improved and he did a great job,” John said. “Calvin had some things go his way today and that’s a positive too.”

The Beavers face Stanford at 6 p.m. Thursday at Gill Coliseum in their next game.