Strong play down the stretch leads Sun Devils to a senior day win

As this season has proven, hardly any win ever comes easy in the Pac-12 regardless of where each team stands going into any given game. Once again, the Arizona State Sun Devils went through this experience, blowing a 17-point lead with just over 10 minutes left to allow the Washington State Cougars to tie the game, twice, with around three minutes to play.

However, ASU (20-11, 11-7 Pac-12) closed with a strong final two minutes to win 83-74 over the Cougars (15-16, 6-12) on senior day in Tempe.

“I’m really proud of our grit, toughness, resiliency,” coach Bobby Hurley said. “All the things that we’ve been talking about probably since after we lost to Washington State at Washington State (January 29). It’s kind of come full circle back to Washington State, it’s funny how things work.”

The victory clinches a bye in next week’s Pac-12 tournament for the Sun Devils, and broke a three-game skid that followed a seven-game win streak, finishing the regular season strong for seniors Rob Edwards, Mickey Mitchell, and walk-on Grant Fogerty.

“I look at it like we’ve won eight out of 11, so I wouldn’t call that limping in,” Hurley said. “I think once you’ve lost a couple, you need to prove to yourself again that you can win these kinds of games. I think it’s a good momentum boost heading into Vegas.”

For the third consecutive season, ASU has earned at least 20 wins, the first time the program has achieved that win total three straight times since 2010. Although he’s in his final games as a Sun Devil, Edwards hopes to see that benchmark raised in ensuing seasons.

“My three years that I’ve been here we’ve been trying to elevate (the program), that’s what coach has been talking about,” Edwards said. “Next year, I hope by the end of the regular season we’ll be at 25.”

Tonight, it felt like the Sun Devils would roll to that 20th regular-season win with how they played through 30 minutes. Although it felt like they slept-walked through the early minutes, trailing WSU 12-4, they woke up thanks to scoring contributions from multiple guys as the first half progressed.

With Edwards and junior forward Romello White getting in some early foul trouble, it was called for to utilize the full complement of bench players. Nevertheless, Hurley was pleased with how they all played some part in building the 40-29 lead ASU took into halftime.

“We were juggling some different guys,” Hurley said. “In the first half, just the minutes—I know Jaelen House and (Jalen) Graham didn’t play a lot in the second half, Khalid (Thomas) not in the second half, but those guys in the first half, collectively, did some really nice things for us to win.”

Graham scored five of his seven total points early in the first, and for a short time was ASU’s leading scorer. House’s strong defensive presence won’t show much in the box score, although he did grab a steal, and Thomas held his own in the battle down low, grabbing three rebounds and even notching an assist in his 10 minutes played, all in the first half.

Moreover, the Sun Devils finished the opening frame strong, which is something Hurley has noted they’ve done well in past games this season to help them win. They outscored WSU 12-5 over the final 3:24 before halftime, highlighted by consecutive threes from junior guard Remy Martin (18 points on 5-for-15 field goals, 2-for-7 threes, 6-for-6 free throws, plus game-high six assists, a steal, rebound) and Thomas, his only score of the game of his three shots.

“I thought some of those threes that (Martin) hit were needed in the first half,” Hurley said. “There was one where he had a lot of passion and fire after he made it. So, it was just tremendous to see him hit a couple of shots. He’s too good of a player not to for any extended period of time.”

The one play Hurley is referring to where Martin showed passion is the same one he hit late in the first, and had things looking like they were firmly in ASU’s control.

That continued into the second, as White (10 points on 3-for-5 field goals, 4-for-4 free throws plus five rebounds, a block and assist) and junior guard Alonzo Verge Jr. (team-high 20 points on 8-for-18 field goals, 1-for-3 threes, 3-for-5 free throws, plus team-high seven rebounds, added two steals, an assist) helped counter a strong first few minutes to the frame by WSU.

The Cougars cut the deficit to five just over three-and-a-half minutes into the second, but they couldn’t break ASU’s defense over the next six minutes and the Sun Devils ran with some nice fast-break buckets and dunks.

“I just moved on from the first half, I felt like I needed to make a couple more free throws,” Verge said. “I always feel like I can do better. I just was getting my shot up—it was kind of flat and I knew that—so I wanted to get it up, and that was the main thing.”

This strong stretch that gave the Sun Devils their largest lead, 17 points, wouldn’t continue into the final 10 minutes of the frame.

WSU big men in freshman seven-footer Volodymyr Markovetskyy (double-double with 11 points on 5-for-5 field goals, 1-for-1 free throws and 10 rebounds, plus two blocks) and junior forward Tony Miller (game-high 21 points on 9-for-12 field goals, 3-for-5 free throws plus eight rebounds) frustrated ASU down low.

Markovetskyy (5) and Miller (6) grabbed several offensive rebounds, helping the Cougars dominate second-chance points 25-15 on the night.

“We stopped getting rebounds, that was the main thing that was going on,” Verge said. “We tried to focus in on that. We were beating them the first half trying to rebound the ball, and then they got to us a little bit in the second half.”

ASU’s offense was just as much at fault for the Cougars comeback. The Sun Devils scored four points for practically six full minutes, from the 10:36 to 3:27 mark in the second.

“I think we did have some open shots,” Hurley said of that stretch, “but we took a couple, I thought, forced, wild layups that we didn’t need to take, and we had a couple bad turnovers, and then game pressure starts to creep in.”

With the game tied 68-68, it was Martin who hit a jumper with 2:37 left to restore ASU’s lead, eventually for good. After a wild WSU possession that saw them grab four offensive rebounds and fail to score, Edwards finally hit his first three on his eighth attempt of the game. It couldn’t have come at a better time, putting ASU ahead 73-68 with 1:35 remaining.

“It was good to see one go through, obviously I wasn’t really hitting those shots throughout the game,” Edwards said. “Remy trusted me, he hit me in the corner. He told me, said ‘corner,’ (I replied), ‘I got you,’ and I hit the shot.

“That’s what playmakers do, find shooters, and I kept shooting no matter what, and it went in. So, it was good, and then I felt like after that shot it kind of like stunned them, and they didn’t think that they were going to be able to get back in the game after that. So, it was a big shot, and I’m happy I made it.”

A couple made free throws by junior WSU guard Isaac Bonton (17 points on 5-for-25 field goals, 1-for-9 threes, 6-for-7 free throws) made it a 73-70 ASU lead going into the final minute, but the Sun Devils would shut the door soon after.

A nice mid-range jumper swished by Verge, followed by a steal from sophomore forward Taeshon Cherry (one of his season-high four, added five points, three rebounds, two blocks) and resulting in a dunk by White made it a seven-point lead with just over 30 seconds left.

This sequence all but sealed the deal, as it was a free-throw battle after that.

“Once you lose that big of a lead, usually teams might mail it in and you go down the tubes,” Hurley said. “But our team has got a ton of character and didn’t fold.”

Although Edwards didn’t shoot particularly well (nine points on 2-for-9 field goals, 1-for-8 threes, 4-for-4 free throws) he contributed in many aspects, grabbing six rebounds, three steals and dishing three assists. Most importantly, he shut down top WSU scorer (third in the Pac-12) in sophomore C.J. Elleby (six points on 2-for-19 field goals, 0-for-10 threes, 2-for-2 free throws, still had game-high 12 rebounds, tied for game-high four steals).

“Coach talked about like last game we played them he waved at our bus when they beat us at Washington State,” Edwards said. “We didn’t let him get going early, and then throughout the game, we just stayed close to him and made other guys beat us.”

With Edwards still playing a key part in the win despite an off night shooting, Mitchell tying his season-high of eight points (3-for-4 field goals, one missed three, 2-for-5 free throws, added six rebounds, a steal and assist) and White putting the the essential finishing touch in the wake of his grandmother’s death, the whole thing felt like poetic justice to finish off the regular season.

“I thought we showed a lot of guts,” Hurley said. “I’m really happy for our team, what we’ve been through and where we are now.”

Now locked into a first round bye in the Pac-12 tournament with the victory, the Sun Devils will start their journey in the second round Thursday, hoping they can earn the program’s first-ever conference tournament title or at least fortify their standing to the NCAA tournament the following week.