It would be a shame if the Sun Devils’ Tourney hopes are dashed because of what appeared to be a terrible call late in the game. With under 30 seconds left, forward Jeff Pendergraph jumped over Davon Jeferson for an emphatic putback dunk to tie the game at 55, but the official under the basket called a loose-ball foul on Pendergraph.

Jefferson hit two free throws and USC took a 59-55 win after ASU missed two three-point attempts at the other end.

The officials should not be the ones deciding games, especially when there was so little contact. It was eerily reminiscent of UCLA’s win over Stanford, when Darren Collison was sent to the line with under 10 seconds left in regulation even though it seemed like he was swatted cleanly.

ASU coach Herb Sendek was irate after the call, but tried to temper his wrath after the game in the press conference.

“It’s always difficult to lose, but when it comes down to the end like that it’s especially hard to swallow,” Sendek said. “From my perspective, I thought it was clean.”

Pendergraph said he was shocked at the call and felt he came through with a clean dunk.

“I didn’t feel any (contact),” he said. “I just thought I jumped over everyone and dunked it. Nobody tried to box me out.”

With the loss, the Sun Devils must now hope the NCAA Selection Committee is kind. Although their RPI does not appear to be at-large worthy, they finished with a .500 record in a very difficult Pac-10 conference and have a number of big wins to their credit. They beat nationally ranked Xavier, Arizona twice and Stanford and the Trojans once apiece.

They hung with USC for 40 minutes and got shafted with a call at the end. ASU still deserves a Tourney berth.