Arizona State (13-12, 7-7) pulled away from Oregon State (11-14, 3-11) in the second half on Wednesday night en route to their 79-61 victory over the Beavers.
With the win, the Sun Devils snapped their two-game home losing streak and won two consecutive games for the first time since their Jan. 6 victory over Colorado.
Prior to ASU’s recent victories over Oregon State on Wednesday and Utah last weekend, the Sun Devils had lost five games in a row and seven of their last eight.
Slow starts plagued the Sun Devils during their losing stretch, but for the second straight game, the team got off to a quick start.
ASU led by multiple scores for most of the first half and built a nine-point cushion after junior guards Frankie Collins, Jamiya Neal and Adam Miller made three consecutive threes in the opening six minutes.
The middle of the half was back and forth until Oregon State went on a 12-2 run in a five-minute span to take a three-point lead with 2:19 left in the first. The Sun Devils committed four turnovers over this stretch and finished with nine in the half, while the Beavers only had one.
“The only negative really was a little bit loose with the basketball,” Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley said. “It’s kind of uncharacteristic of our team. We’re usually a very low turnover team. We had too many tonight, but outside of that I’m very happy with our performance.”
Collins’ layup ended ASU’s near four-minute scoring drought on the next possession. This kicked off a 6-0 ASU run that Miller punctuated with a dunk with 34 seconds left.
On the last possession of the half, Beavers sophomore guard Jordan Pope drained the clock and hit a step-back three with six seconds left to tie the game at 33-33.
After an even first half, the Sun Devils controlled the final 20 minutes of the game thanks to their press defense, which forced 13 Oregon State turnovers.
“Defensively I thought we were really good,” Hurley said. “The first 10 minutes we were able to consistently get stops and played solid basketball. On the offensive end, we had good balance. Our shooting numbers were stronger tonight.”
On offense, the Sun Devils scored the first five points after halftime and never looked back.
The Sun Devils went on a 21-2 run over the next seven minutes to take a 21-point lead with under 10 minutes left in the game. Sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. threw down two dunks to put an exclamation mark on ASU’s run.
“Shawn had a really good stretch in the second half, where he got a bunch of rebounds,” Hurley said. “And he’s a presence around the basket. We had a couple of lobs to him. He gives us a different look that we don’t have if he’s not out on the floor.”
Phillips Jr. dunked over two defenders despite being fouled and made the ensuing free throw. On ASU’s next possession, Phillips Jr.’s second slam elicited the loudest cheer of the night from the Desert Financial Arena Crowd. Neal lobbed a pass from the left wing and Phillips threw it down to complete the alley-oop.
The Beavers scored seven quick points in just over a minute to cut the deficit to 14 points. But a technical foul on senior guard Dexter Akanno killed the Beaver momentum and run. Senior guard Jose Perez made both free throws and Collins knocked down a field goal to put ASU ahead by 18 points.
Neal scored sixth straight points from two layups and a mid-range jumper to extend the lead back to 21 points. During that stretch, Neal dove to recover a loose ball, got up, and scored on the fast break.
“As a leader on his team, sometimes you gotta go out there and do things that other people don’t want to do or they’re not doing at the time,” Neal said. “If I see the team’s kind of getting down, maybe I gotta go out there and try to hustle and try to set the tone because I know if I set the bar up here, they’re not going to drop any lower.”
It was the type of effort that ASU had been missing before their current winning streak. And it came when the game was all but over. Neal showed leadership and maturity by accepting his role off the bench and delivering his best performance of the season.
“I trust Coach Hurley and I know he has my best intentions at heart,” Neal said. “So whatever he tells me to do I’m gonna go do it. And I know that he’s not doing will ill intentions or thoughts. I know he wants what’s best for me, so I just follow this lead and came off the bench to do what I have to do.”
Despite not starting, Neal finished with a season-best 21 points to lead ASU after making nine of 14 shots from the field.
Adam Miller, who started in Neal’s place, finished with 16 points and was five of eight from the field, including two 3-pointers.
“You know, when you get to this point in the season, the coach has to make decisions,” Miller said. “We have to make decisions, and you’re either gonna crumble or you’re gonna stand up and play like a man. And I think we just stood up and played harder.”
Jose Perez also scored 16 points and was six-for-six from the free-throw line. Collins had 14 points after making two of three shots from behind the arc.
ASU finished with four players in double-figures for the second consecutive game. As a team, the Sun Devils outshot the Beavers 58 percent to 45 percent. ASU was also more efficient from the free throw line, 75 percent to 60 percent.
“If we’re able to score as many points as we did tonight, I think that puts us in a comfortable range to have a chance, a really good chance to win,” Hurley said. “And so if we can score like we did at Utah and tonight, I think the way we’re able to get stops and the effort we get on the defensive end, that we would have a chance to win a little bit over the last few games.”
The Sun Devils scored more points in the paint (46-26), from the bench (28-11), off turnovers (18-8), and on the fastbreak (23-4).
On defense, ASU held Oregon State’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Jordan Pope, to 11 points. An improvement from the 19 points he put on the Sun Devils in their first matchup last month. Sophomore forward Tyler Bilodeau led the Beavers with 21 points.
ASU’s 18-point advantage is their largest margin of conference victory play this season. After a rough stretch, the Sun Devils have found balanced scoring thanks to efficient shooting and improved defensive play. They’re forcing turnovers that create fastbreak opportunities.
The Sun Devils have built some momentum over the last four days. And it couldn’t come at a better time.
The team currently sits in seventh place in the Pac-12, three games back from first-place Arizona – their next opponent. It will be the first game against their in-state rival of the season.
“This is an enormous challenge in front of us on Saturday,” Hurley said. “Against a team that rarely loses on their home floor and is a number one seed right now in the NCAA Tournament. We have our work cut out for us on Saturday, that’s for sure.”
The Sun Devils will head to Tucson to take on the No. 5 Wildcats (19-5, 10-3) at the McKale Center on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. MST.
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