Arizona State Men’s Hoops (11-12, 5-7) traveled to Colorado to take on the Buffaloes (16-7, 7-5) on Thursday night to start the Rocky Mountain road trip.
The Sun Devils had a four-game losing streak before heading into this matchup. The last matchup between the teams on January 6th, was in ASU’s favor winning 76-73 at home.
An 82-70 loss did little to improve things for the tumbling Devils.
ASU didn’t put a point on the board for the first four minutes of the game, trailing 12-1.
The Sun Devils still found themselves behind by 18 points later in the first half but were able to cut the deficit to 44-35 when the halftime buzzer sounded.
Even though the Sun Devils had an ugly start, they started to find their groove in the second half, outscoring Boulder 57-51 but found themselves trailing by 17 with just over 13 minutes to play.
Junior guard Frankie Collins made it a 73-68 game though with 2:13 left to play on a driving layup.
Boulder pulled away after that, ultimately winning the free throw battle down the stretch. The hole ASU had dug itself was just too deep.
Collins finished the night leading the Sun Devils with 18 points, four rebounds, and two assists. He also snatched his 69th steal and is just seven steals shy of tying Fat Lever’s 76.
Sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. continued to show significant progress for the Sun Devils, as he finished with 10 points in Boulder.
Redshirt junior guard Adam Miller finished the night with 14 points, going 5-7 from the field and 2-3 behind the arc.
Senior guard J’Vonne Hadley led the Buffaloes with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Junior K.J. Simpson tallied for 17 points and six rebounds to help seal Boulders win.
ASU finishes its Rocky Mountain trip in Utah on Saturday.
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