ASU Basketball: Sun Devils stun Washington State 58-55

Arizona State Men’s Basketball (8-15, 4-9 Pac-12) defeated Washington State (14-9,7-5) in Pullman 58-55 on Saturday.

Last time ASU played Washington State this season, it was the Sun Devil’s lowest scoring game since 1946. ASU only scored 29 points in a 51-29 loss in Tempe.

The hope was that tonight would not be a repeat.

ASU clearly learned their lesson, and although the game was close, they were not going to let the Cougars get the best of them again.

The first half was pretty back-and-forth between the two teams. In the first five minutes, Washington State went 4-5 from the field.

With just a little over 10 minutes left in the first half, the Cougars led 20-14 despite ASU being 6-11 from the field.

That was Washington State’s largest lead of the game.

After Jalen Graham’s free throws with a little over three minutes left, ASU did not score again for the rest of the half.

It was 29-27 at half. ASU was leading in bench points and points in the paint.

To start the second half, neither team scored until about four minutes in. Luther Muhammad tied it up at 29 points.

ASU hit seven straight from the locker room. It took WSU about five minutes to score.

ASU took their largest lead with eight points and didn’t look bad.

WSU started to make a comeback, but it was just not enough. With five seconds left, ASU inbounded the ball to D.J. Horne, but he stepped out of bounds with the ball.

The ball was then turned over to the Cougars, but when they got their chance to inbound the ball, they gave it right to the Sun Devils, giving ASU the victory.

The Cougar’s 22nd ranked defense simply was just not enough.

It was ASU’s bench that stole the show tonight. They had 33 points off the bench. Marreon Jackson and Graham led the team with 14 points each.

Alonzo Gaffney fouled out with 4:38 left in the game. He finished with three rebounds, one assist and zero points.

Muhammad finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.

Jay Heath usually averages about 10 points per game, but tonight he was fairly quiet with only four points.

ASU just came off of a 87-64 loss against Washington on Thursday. The loss solidified a losing season for the Sun Devils. Before Washington, was a three-game stretch of playing ranked Pac-12 teams.

Besides the triumphant triple-overtime victory over then-No. 3 UCLA, ASU has struggled, but tonight’s win helps lessen the blow.

Washington State came off of a 72-60 loss against No.4 ranked University of Arizona. This game gives them their second straight loss after a five-game win streak.

Washington State is first in Pac-12 for three-point shooting. Tonight, they went 10-33.

Michael Flowers was the Cougars top guy coming into tonight. He usually averages 18 points per game. Tonight he only had six.

ASU is set to play Oregon at home on Thursday at 7 pm MST.