Provo » There was no controversial finish this time around, but the BYU Cougars, after playing flawlessly in the first 20 minutes, played the second half as if they wanted there to be one.

Nearly blowing a 20-point second-half lead, the Cougars held on to outlast Arizona State 81-68 on Tuesday night in the Marriott Center in front of a mildly disappointing crowd of 11,587.

"That was a really, really good team win," said BYU coach Dave Rose after getting just his second win over a Pac-10 team.

While exacting a measure of revenge for last year's heartbreaking 76-75 loss in Glendale, Ariz., when a Charles Abouo basket was waved off at the buzzer, the Cougars improved to 7-1.

Arizona State fell to 6-3, with losses to Duke, Baylor and BYU.

But the win was less satisfying than it could have been for BYU, as the Cougars let the Sun Devils back into the game after being in total control early in the second half.

"They are a great team. They are going to make a run, and they did tonight," BYU's Jackson Emery said.

Jimmer Fredette set a school record, passing Michael Smith, with his 33rd consecutive made free throw with 16:56 remaining in the game to give the Cougars a 48-28 lead.

But the Sun Devils hit a barrage of three-pointers to close the gap in a hurry, and it took a three-pointer by Emery to finally stem the tide and give the Cougars a 55-42 lead.

But ASU wasn't finished, and after an 11-2 run between the 10-minute mark and 6:51, it appeared this one would go to the wire, too.

The Devils got as close as 64-60 after two free throws by Derek Glasser (22 points), but Tyler Haws and Emery hit back-to-back shots, Emery's a three-pointer, and the Cougars could breathe easier down the stretch with a 69-60 lead.

Haws matched Emery's total of 17 points, and also added 11 rebounds.

That double-double is "pretty impressive" for a freshman who has played in only eight college games, Rose said.

The Cougars needed a big game from their newcomer, too, because Fredette was 1-for-13 from the field, and Jonathan Tavernari went 2-for-8.

Asked if he believed his team would have had a chance to win if he knew Fredette and Tavernari would struggle like they did, ASU coach Herb Sendek shrugged and said, "some of our guys had similarly challenging nights."

The Cougars led 39-23 at halftime despite the fact that Fredette and Tavernari, their leading and third-leading scorers, had gone 0-for-11 from the field.

Tavernari did not start for the second-straight game, and did not score in the first half. He finished with nine points, but grabbed five rebounds.

The Cougars started pulling away in the first half after a running one-handed dunk by Brandon Davies made it 16-12 with 9:50 remaining. Haws capped the big run with a three-pointer as the halftime buzzer sounded.

"It is always fun playing a big team like Arizona State," Haws said.

The Sun Devils committed 10 turnovers in the first half and were 0-for-5 from three-point range, a problem they obviously corrected in the last 20 minutes. They were 8-for-15 from long range in the second half.

"BYU is very skilled as a team," Sendek said. "Even though Fredette was missing his shots, he still went 8-for-8 from the line and they had other guys step up. We were very respectful of BYU and we know they have a very good program."

Rose said he was pleased overall with the win, calling ASU a "good team that is going to win a lot of games" and praising his own team for assisting on 19 of its 25 field goals.

drew@sltrib.com