TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Arizona State has never won a Pac-10 title.
The Sun Devils, who joined the conference in 1978-79, are still in the hunt with five games to go.
Ty Abbott scored 19 points and Rihards Kuksiks had 12 as Arizona State rallied to defeat Oregon 61-51 on Saturday and remain a game behind California in the Pac-10 race.
Abbott hit 5 of 13 shots from beyond the arc to spark the Sun Devils (18-8, 8-5 Pac-10), who trailed by nine points late in the first half. Arizona State kept pace with the Golden Bears, who beat Washington State earlier in the afternoon.
"We'd like to be one game ahead with five to go," point guard Derek Glasser said.
The Sun Devils have an uphill climb to the top. They play their next three games on the road -- at Arizona, Stanford and California -- before closing with USC and UCLA at home.
ASU has already lost to four of its five remaining opponents.
"We've proved that we can win on the road so far," Glasser said. "It's going to be tough, but teams who win conference championships win on the road, and that's what we're going to have to do."
Malcolm Armstead scored 16 points and Matt Humphrey had 11 for Oregon (12-12, 4-8), which has dropped eight of 10 games after a 2-0 start in Pac-10 play. Tajuan Porter, Oregon's leading scorer, hit 1 of 11 shots from the floor (1 of 8 on 3-point attempts).
The Sun Devils wrapped up a four-game sweep of the Oregon schools, who are mired at the bottom of the feeble Pac-10. But it wasn't easy.
ASU broke open a close game with a 12-0 run midway through the second half. Abbott connected three times from beyond the arc during that stretch.
The Ducks came to the desert looking to avenge a 76-57 rout by the Sun Devils in Eugene, Ore. on Jan. 14. The rematch was vintage Pac-10 basketball, with plenty of turnovers and missed shots and a halftime score of 26-all.
The Sun Devils had nine turnovers -- and two field goals -- in the first nine minutes.
"It just seemed like there was a sequence of three or four passes in a row, we were trying to catch Phil Niekro," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "We just had a hard time passing and catching."
ASU scored the game's first six points before the Ducks went on a 12-0 run in which four different players scored.
Oregon stretched its lead to 24-15 with 4:18 to go in the first half. But the Sun Devils tied it at 26-26 on an 11-2 run capped by Kuksiks' 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
"It was big," Sendek said of ASU's rally. "We just talked about chipping away."
ASU's defense, which ranks third in the league, took over in the second half. The Sun Devils gave up a pair of 3-pointers to Humphrey, then held the Ducks scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes.
The Sun Devils took command with a 12-0 run that began with a 3-pointer by Derek Glasser and ended with a 3-pointer by Abbott.
ASU led by 15 with 7:27 to play, but the Ducks went on a 9-0 run to pull within 53-47 with 3:05 remaining.
That's when Abbott scored from just inside the arc. A minute later, Glasser hit a 3-pointer to give the Sun Devils plenty of breathing room.
The Ducks have dropped three straight games by 20, 13 and 10 points. But Oregon coach Ernie Kent said he was happy with the way his players responded after a 70-57 loss at Arizona two nights earlier.
"This team battled," Kent said. "I was proud of the way they came back. They continue to come back to the party and fight for us to the end."
