ASU Basketball: Sun Devils fall in final eight seconds after battling from two, ten-point deficits

The Arizona State Sun Devils fell 75-73 to the Stanford Cardinal Saturday night after battling back from a ten-point deficit to take the lead for the first time in the final minute of the game.

ASU started off slow in transition and operated mainly from the perimeter, with less than a third of their first half points coming in the paint.

Tra Holder started off the Sun Devil scoring to spark center Eric Jacobsen's first three of the year to keep it a one-possession game early, but as always, fouls plagued the Sun Devils and the Cardinal started to pull away early in the first half, putting the Sun Devils in a nine-point hole.

The Cardinal went 3-for-3 from behind the arc to start off the game, but once again, it was point guard Tra Holder who battled to keep his team in the game. With ten minutes to play in the first half, ASU trailed 21-14, leading on the offensive glass but committing five turnovers in the process.

However it was ASU's ability to get out in transition at the five-minute mark of the first half and Holder's three from the corner that sparked a 9-0 run over a two-minute span that put the Sun Devils back within one at 32-31.

However the Sun Devils continued to rack up the team fouls (11) and were unable to take the lead before half, going into the locker room down six, with a 40-34 Cardinal lead.

ASU came out in the second half, trading buckets with the Cardinal but empty trips down the court to start out the half kept the Sun Devils from tying it up.

Forward Willie Atwood made ASU's best attempt in the second half with back-to-back threes to put the Sun Devils within one, 54-53, but ASU was unable to make a field goal in the five minutes that followed, squandering ASU's hopes and eliciting a 10-point Stanford lead.

ASU was able to fight back, once again, from a ten-point deficit, and with 1:30 left to play in the game, Holder handed ASU it's first lead of the night on a layup to put the Sun Devils ahead 71-70.

From there, it was a race to the finish and after a Rosco Allen jumper, a Goodman layup and a cash in at the charity stripe, it was Allen in the end who was able to lay it in with 8.4 seconds left and a tie score to slide past the Sun Devils and hand his team the victory,

The Sun Devils will return to Tempe on Thursday to host Oregon State at Wells Fargo Arena. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. MST and will be broadcasted on the Pac-12 Networks.