TEMPE — Arizona State (13-12 overall, 4-8 Big 12) only trailed for two minutes in all of Tuesday night’s clash against Oklahoma State (16-8 overall, 4-7 Big 12), holding a lead for most of the night. Yet, with time dwindling down late, it seemed like a familiar script could be playing out at Desert Financial Arena — another victory slipping out of the hands of the Sun Devils in the dying minutes.
The Cowboys had slowly chipped away at a once 13-point deficit and came within one point of tying the game with four minutes remaining. A comeback seemed almost inevitable.
But, unlike some other heartbreaking losses for the Sun Devils this season, Sparky flipped the script: Bobby Hurley’s squad scored 16 points in the final four minutes of the game to beat OSU 85-76.
Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet recorded his fourth double-double of the season, scoring a season-high 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds. Freshman center Massamba Diop was one of five Sun Devils to score double-digit points, along with Trouet, senior guard Moe Odum, senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson and junior forward Andrija Grbović.
“It feels good to win,” Hurley said in his postgame interview. “We’ve had other games – the UCF game and a couple that you wish you could’ve gotten, and maybe your record in the standings is a little bit better, then you have a chance to inch forward.”
The Sun Devils averaged the lowest number of rebounds per game in the Big 12 going into tonight, logging 32.8 rebounds per game. However, Hurley’s side put up 25 rebounds in the first quarter, just one shy of its total tally from Saturday’s defeat at Colorado.
The team ended with 45 rebounds – 11 more than its opponents.
“I took it personal when I heard him speak in the post conference,” Trouet said after the game on Hurley’s comments regarding ASU’s poor rebounding in Saturday‘s loss to Colorado. “I think he did so, too, and Massamba did as well.”
ASU entered the midweek clash after splitting its road trip against Utah and Colorado. Oklahoma State looked to secure just its second road victory of the season and go within one game of .500 in the Big 12.
Diop and Trouet both started hot for the Sun Devils. The duo combined for 10 points in the first five minutes, with the Argentina-native also collecting four rebounds.
The Maroon and Gold’s offense continued their strong start by extending its lead to 10 points following an 8-0 run. Grbović scored seven points in less than 40 seconds to put ASU up 13 points with eight minutes from halftime.
But the Cowboys came storming back. Within three minutes of Grbović’s scoring run, the visitors logged 12 unanswered points while ASU’s offense went over four minutes without a single bucket.
Arizona State responded by scoring seven of the final nine points while holding OSU without a field goal for the last 3:47. Hurley’s squad went into halftime up 39-34, despite shooting 36% from the field compared to the Cowboys’ 43%.
“I’m never really that concerned if we get our feet under us in a game that our guys aren’t gonna be resilient and fight back from something,” Hurley said. “I expected them to make a run even when – I think (when) we were up 12 or 13 in the first half.”
Both sides couldn’t be separated for the majority of the second half. ASU never surrendered its lead after halftime, yet never led by more than 10. Diop scored seven points in the first ten minutes of the half while Trouet reached double-digit points for the eighth time this season.
However, OSU junior guard Kanye Clary sank a 3-pointer with four minutes remaining to cut ASU’s lead to one point.
Surprisingly, the bucket proved to be a turning point for Hurley’s side. Trouet snapped the Sun Devils’ five-minute field goal drought, then Odum lit up the home crowd by sinking a huge 3-pointer with 2:49 remaining. The shots helped ASU race into a 9-0 run within two minutes while forcing OSU into two turnovers.
Arizona State continued to pull away and finished the game with a nine-point lead.
Hurley’s team will have one week off before returning to Desert Financial Arena to host Texas Tech at 9 p.m. MST.
“We still have six games left, we gotta just treat it that way and see how many of these we could get to close it out,” Hurley said.
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