Arizona State Basketball Routs Florida A&M 97-70

The Arizona State Sun Devils used a fast start and a strong finish to defeat the Florida A&M Rattlers 97-70 in front of 3,107 supporters at Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils started the game on a 15-4 run and ended the game by outscoring the Rattlers 28-9.

The Sun Devils were led by their backcourt, with Jahii Carson leading the team in scoring with 20 points and dishing seven assists.

"He is our leader," said Jordan Bachynski about Carson. "He distributes the ball, he sees the floor really well, I have said it before and I will say it again, he is a young Steve Nash," said Bachynski.

For the second straight game, five Sun Devils scored in double figures, including Chris Colvin's 15 points off the bench.

"If we had five guys scoring in double figures every night, which guy would you key on?," said Colvin, who also added six rebounds.

Other players in double figures included: Jonathan Gilling, Carrick Felix and Jordan Bachynski. Gilling recorded his first career double-double, as the sophomore from Denmark also grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds.

"Jon is a pretty strong kid," said head coach Herb Sendek. "I thought last week he was really as aggressive as he has been, and we need that from him."

The Sun Devils led by 13 points at halftime, however in the second half Florida A&M cut the lead to six points while Carrick Felix sat out with four fouls.

"The second half we just shot ourselves in the foot," said Sendek. "There were several sequences where we just didn't finish the play, they got four points in a row off of scurries, one time we had the outlet and we lost it and they scored."

The Sun Devils heated up late in the game, especially from long distance, as the ASU was 5-11 from beyond the arc in the second half. Evan Gordon swished two threes late in the game to extend the Sun Devil lead and as a team, Arizona State shot 9-18 from three point territory.

"I was really pleased with the effort and the surge that our guys had midway through the second half to pull away," said Sendek. "Guys are really trying to make each other better and play together. I think this group generally likes each other and that carries over to the court."

The Sun Devils have won back-to-back games to start the season. ASU looks for a third straight win Tuesday night when they host Cornell.