Phoenix, AZ—Coach Bob Hurley ‘s teams are scrappy and they will fight to the end. That is why they will be very dangerous when tournament time comes around. Believe that.
Arizona State beat Washington State 77-71 in Pac-12 play Thursday night at Desert Financial Arena. The Sun Devils (12-3, 3-1) improved to 6-1 this season in games decided by six points or less.
“It’s as good as we’ve played offensively and I think it could have been a little better. I think we had a couple of good looks throughout the course of the game. I thought we moved the ball well. Got some good work done in the paint again. A lot of good stuff on the offensive end. It’s good to get back to the feeling of winning a basketball game after having two tough losses.” Coach Hurley said.
Washington State is a team you can’t sleep on, just last week the Cougars beat USC by double digits and lost to the No. 10 UCLA Bruins by just one point.
Warren Washington was on fire in the first half scoring 16 of his 18 points in that half.
Washington knocked down 9 of 10 shots from the floor and dished out four assists for ASU. DJ Horne finished with 12 points but missed all six of his 3-point attempts. Desmond Cambridge Jr. poured in 13, leaving him five points shy of 2,000 for his career.
The Sun Devils took a 42-36 lead at the break.
Arizona State shot 55% overall but just 29% from downtown (5 of 17). The Cougars shot 43% from the floor and made 11 of 32 from beyond the arc (34%).
ASU led for the entire but the game was a battle. The Sun Devils led as many as 12 points at 64-52 with 9:24 to go in the game and were still up by double digits at 69-58 with 6:14 to play.
Washington State wouldn’t go away without a fight, DJ Rodman made a layup and back-to-back treys by Jabe Mullins got them within three 69-66 with 4:18 remaining in the contest.
But the Cougars (6-10, 1-4) hit some huge 3-pointers and benefited when ASU twice missed the front end of a one-and-one at the line in the last two minutes.
Mullins finished with five 3-pointers and finished the game with 19 points. Rodman chipped in with 16 points and 12 boards for his first double-double of the season. Justin Powell scored 10.
D.J. Horne scored on a little floater in the lane for a 73-66 lead and Washington later had a monster dunk after a Cougar turnover to put the Sun Devils up 75-66 with 1:22 left. ASU hung on for the rest of the way.
Arizona State got a little revenge with the win after WSU came to Tempe last year and held the Sun Devils to 10 points at the break in a 51-29 victory.
UP NEXT:
Arizona State will host Washington on Sunday, Jan. 8th for a 5:00 P.M. start time.
