Arizona State rebounded from a pair of emotional defeats to upset No. 21 Washington State 73-61 on Saturday night in Tempe, Ariz., knocking the Cougars out of first place in the Pac-12 Conference.
Jose Perez scored 16 points and Frankie Collins added 14 for the Sun Devils (14-14 overall, 8-9 Pac-12). They had lost 105-60 at rival Arizona last weekend and then dropped an 82-80 overtime decision against Washington on Thursday after rallying from a 25-point, second-half deficit.
Adam Miller scored 12 for Arizona State, Alonzo Gaffney tallied all 11 of his points in the second half and Bryant Selebangue added nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Isaac Jones led the Cougars (21-7, 12-5) with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Myles Rice scored 13. The Cougars had an eight-game winning streak snapped and fell one-half game behind leader Arizona (21-6, 12-4) in the conference race.
The Cougars scored the first six points of the second half to pull within 36-35, causing ASU coach Bobby Hurley to call a timeout with 17:10 remaining.
That failed to spark the Sun Devils’ offense or slow WSU, as Rice was fouled while making a driving layup and converted the three-point play to give the Cougars a 38-36 lead and cap the 9-0 run.
Gaffney made a jumper for ASU’s first points of the second half with 15:12 left, then added a layup off a fast break to put the Sun Devils up 40-38. Collins added a 3-pointer in a 7-0 spurt to put the hosts up by five and they never trailed again.
The Cougars three times pulled within two points but couldn’t tie the score.
The Sun Devils shot 53.3 percent in the first half to take a 36-29 halftime lead as Collins and Jamiya Neal each scored nine points.
After the Cougars scored the game’s first four points, ASU went on a 13-0 run, with Collins making a pair of layups and a 3-pointer and Neal adding a jumper and a dunk.
ASU led by as many as 12 points, 18-6, on a 3-pointer by Perez with 10:32 left in the half.
The Cougars responded with an 8-0 spurt, with Jaylen Wells making a pair of 3-pointers, and they twice got within a point before ASU pulled away again, taking a 34-25 lead on a three-point play by Neal with 2:04 to go.
–Field Level Media