Before the season, Fred Washington bet teammate Taj Finger that Washington would shoot at least 80 percent from the free throw line this year.

So far this season, Washington’s not anywhere close, but Finger may forgive him.

With five seconds left in last night’s game and the Cardinal clinging to a two-point lead over Arizona, Washington was fouled while rebounding a missed jump shot by the Wildcats’ Jerryd Bayless. Washington, the fifth-year senior forward, missed all six of his free throw attempts last Sunday in a close loss to Oregon, and teammates senior forward Finger and junior guard Anthony Goods had already missed crucial attempts in previous minutes against Arizona.

Shooting one-and-one, Washington stepped to the line as a nervous hush fell over the Maples Pavilion faithful.

He sunk them both.

With the free throws sealing the deal, Stanford escaped against Arizona, 56-52, Thursday night. It was another ugly win for the Cardinal (14-3, 3-2 Pac-10) but it gave Stanford its first victory over the Wildcats since January 2005.

“I think I’m going to make them every time,” said Washington, who is shooting just under 52 percent from the free throw stripe this season.

But making these ones?

“It’s nice,” he said.

“He had better made them,” coach Trent Johnson said.

On the offensive end, it was a tale of two halves. Stanford shot a sizzling 63 percent in the opening stanza, before coming down to earth in the second period with a 7-for-26 (26.9 percent) performance from the field.

Once again, the key was defense. Arizona (11-6, 1-3) came into the contest averaging 74.2 points per game, but was held to 52 points on 21-for-56 shooting (37.5 percent). Wildcat stars Bayless, the freshman guard, and sophomore swingman Chase Budinger combined for just 22 points on 8-for-30 shooting from the field, well below their respective scoring averages of 19.7 and 17.1, respectively.

“We gotta get stops,” Johnson said of his team’s philosophy when the offense is struggling. “As long as we take good shots, shooting with confidence and moving within the framework of what we’re trying to do offensively, I can live with that. On the other [defensive] end, that’s where you pick yourself up.”

Stanford went to the post early and often, with seven-foot sophomore center Brook Lopez scoring at will against a smaller Arizona front line. Lopez finished the game with 19 points to lead all scorers, adding six rebounds and five blocks.

Riding Lopez inside, Stanford made a 12-3 run starting midway through the opening period, taking its largest lead of the game, 26-14, with 6:25 left before halftime. Despite sloppy play, which resulted in nine turnovers, the Cardinal finished the half up 33-26.

But any team as talented as Arizona is going to make a run, and that the Wildcats did. Capitalizing on Stanford turnovers and missed shots, Arizona outscored the Cardinal 17-4 to take a three-point lead with 10 minutes to go in the second frame.

“We hit a stretch when things weren’t working and we had to lock down,” Washington said. “Some teams would have folded under that type of comeback — Arizona’s a good team. But we didn’t, we bounced back.”

A Taj Finger put-back after two offensive rebounds put Stanford up two with four and half minutes to go. Both teams traded misses and turnovers until Arizona big man Jordan Hill hit a jumper with 2:17 left to tie the game at 52.

Then, Brook Lopez, after missing a critical shot in the final minutes during Sunday’s loss to Oregon, made a baseline jumper with 1:55 to play to give the Cardinal the lead for good.

Next for Stanford is No. 22 Arizona State, fresh off a 99-90 double-overtime thriller at Cal Thursday night. The Sun Devils are averaging more than 70 points per game, and will provide another test for the stalwart Stanford defense.

“This winning ugly is getting old,” Johnson said. “But it’s winning.”