Final scores can be misleading as to how a contest actually played out. Such was the case Saturday night, as the Arizona State Sun Devils (13-8, 4-4 Pac-12) came away with an 87-83 victory over the Washington Huskies (12-11, 2-8) after leading by double digits for much of the game.

It took an aggressive trap defense and complete desperation points in the final minute for the Huskies to pull as close as they did. In fact, with as little as 30 seconds to play ASU led by double digits, 86-76, a margin that much more accurately reflected who played better for the entire 40 minutes.

Once senior guard Rob Edwards hit a three just under two minutes into the contest to put ASU ahead 4-2, they would never relinquish the lead for the remaining 38 minutes. If nothing else, this shows that the Sun Devils have it in them to control a game start to finish, which should not be taken lightly on the road against a team like UW despite their record. After all, this will go down as the third-largest margin of defeat out of the Huskies eight conference losses, even still despite those garbage points in the final seconds.

Here are some more takeaways from ASU’s fourth true road victory of the season.

Deeper rotation plays a key role in ASU’s wire-to-wire victory

It’s no secret that I’ve repetitively preached this team’s depth as the number one reason why I believe it has the potential to have a special postseason—whatever that may look like—despite the roller coaster regular season. Tonight’s contest was as good of an example as could be found in all 21 games.

Nine of the 10 Sun Devils who played saw double-digit minutes on the floor, and the only one who didn’t was freshman guard Jaelen House, who is still exactly one week removed from returning to game action after suffering a concussion.

Even better was the balance in scoring, as five Sun Devils put up double figures for the first time since the victory over St. John’s on November 23, the fourth game of the season.

Although star junior point guard Remy Martin led the way as usual, with 19 points (5-for-13 field goals, including 4-for-11 threes, 5-for-6 free throws plus three rebounds, assist, steal), it was nothing short of impressive to see a three-way tie behind him with each guy scoring 18 points.

Junior forward Romello White (5-for-8 field goals, 8-for-8 free throws plus seven rebounds, two blocks, assist, steal), junior guard Alonzo Verge Jr (7-for-8 field goals with missed three, 4-for-6 free throws plus five rebounds, two assists) and senior guard Rob Edwards (3-for-12 field goals, including 3-for-10 threes, 9-for-10 free throws plus four rebounds, two assists, two steals) were the trio that abutted Martin’s effort in the steady victory.

Nonetheless, the fifth double-digit scorer had to be the most intriguing of the entire night for ASU because if you didn’t watch this game, or especially since the last home game against Arizona, it would undoubtedly take you several guesses to get right.

In only his second double-digit scoring game of the season, junior forward Khalid Thomas put up 10 points (4-7 field goals, including 1-for-3 threes, 1-for-1 free throws). Five of those came in a four-minute stretch between 7:19-3:19 to play in regulation. Not quite the two game-saving threes he had in the final minute at Princeton, in his season-high effort of 14 points, but still, very important buckets that helped ASU stay in command down the stretch.

When Martin, Edwards, Verge Jr and coach Bobby Hurley have brought up the increased trust guys are showing in their teammates, this would seem to be exactly what they’re talking about.

ASU still struggling at times with appropriate pace of play

We should all put a high value on being fair, and it’s only fair to include a negative after a nice win the same way positives are looked at after a bad loss.

With that being said, there were times in the final 10 minutes of the game when the Sun Devils offensive pace was confounding, to say the least. Sure, the team has established its ability to find offensive success from scoring quickly in transition and on fast breaks. But that ability only helps when the team knows the right times to channel it.

Tonight, there were two concerning examples that happened at key points late in the second half. One was with just over 7:30 left, with ASU ahead 71-59, Martin decided to push the pace off a defensive rebound by freshman Jalen Graham (seven rebounds, four points, one steal in 16 minutes). He would turn the ball over, leading to a UW layup and consequent timeout, the Huskies then only down 10 with plenty of time to come back.

The next egregious one came with just under six minutes left, after a second-chance bucket cut UW’s deficit to eight. ASU again decided it was a good idea to push the pace, resulting in a turnover by Verge Jr that resulted in a thunderous dunk the other way by Nahziah Carter.

Hurley would call timeout right afterwards, as that would probably end up being UW’s closest deficit, 74-68, with the most time remaining to comeback, 5:35.

Following the Washington State game, when it seemed like ASU took its time on several offensive possessions despite being down big in the second half, this seems like an issue worth examining.

No team is going to be perfect in this department, but it’s the kind of thing that seems to separate good from great teams. Based on this week, it seems like this is a huge area where ASU could get out of their own way in getting the results they want and have the potential to earn from game-to-game.

Press defense in the early moments of the contest proves key in victory

Shifting back to the positives, the Sun Devils seemed to spend almost the entire first 10-15 minutes of the game full-court pressing the Huskies on defense. As the first half scoring margins would suggest—getting as large as +9 for ASU just 8:45 into the action—it worked.

This is nothing new from the Sun Devils over the course of this season, but it certainly feels like it’s something that Hurley keeps in his back pocket, only to be used on certain occasions or for certain opponents.

It’s hard to blame him because as well as the team executes it when called on, a full-court press is exhausting and can take its toll energy-wise, especially if the team is relying on only a few players to carry it to victory.

Saturday night, this seemed to work in conjunction with a game plan of using the team’s full depth to its advantage, as senior forward Mikey Mitchell (19 minutes) and junior forward Kimani Lawrence (10 minutes) each got to start, although neither would end up scoring any points.

That was beside the point, however, because ASU was able to use its depth to consistently stay one step ahead of the Huskies throughout the night. This was no more evident than in the 32-13 discrepancy in bench points in favor of the Sun Devils.

Free-Throws vastly improved from previous efforts

Normally, three takeaways paints most of the picture. But it would be an injustice to the Sun Devils to not bring up their 27-for-33 effort at the free-throw line, good for 82 percent.

The only two times this entire season in which ASU shot a better percentage from the line was at Oregon (14-for-16) and against St. Mary’s (7-for-8), both good for 87.5 percent. Given the significantly higher volume of foul shots in the effort at UW, it’s hard not to argue the Sun Devils reached a high point with their free-throw shooting in Saturday night’s effort.

Granted, the strong field goal shooting effort by ASU (26-for-57, good for 46 percent compared to UW’s 24-for-62, only 39 percent) may have made more of a difference in the outcome than their one more made free throw (UW shot 26-for-35, good for 74 percent foul shooting). But the arguable season-best effort by the Sun Devils in this department is worth appreciating, given how many times poor foul shooting has cost them earlier losses.

ASU returns to action on Thursday when it hosts the UCLA Bruins (11-10, 4-4 mark ahead of Sunday's game versus Utah) at 9 p.m. in Tempe, Arizona. The game will air nationally on ESPN2.