By Adam Beadle
Multimedia Specialist
After beating No. 23 West Virginia on the road, Arizona State looked to hit a groove and grab a win at home against No. 3 Iowa State after winning only its second conference game this season.
Though ASU entered the game with a full tank of gas, it was evident that the tank had emptied by the last five minutes. With freshman forward Jayden Quaintance fouling out under four-and-a-half minutes left in the game, the Cyclones went on a 19-3 run, leading to a 76-61 victory.
Even with the football team in attendance, hoisting the Big 12 Championship trophy the Sun Devils had captured over ISU’s football team in December, the noise and roar from the Cyclone nation were too overpowering for the Sun Devils' hopes of good fortune.
“It was more like a court that we practice on,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “It was like a home neutral, I’ll call it.”
Freshman guard Joson Sanon returned to the floor after missing the previous six games due to an ankle injury. However, Sanon did not contribute much, scoring eight points and fouling out for the first time in his collegiate career, amongst ASU’s collapse in the final minutes.
“[Sanon] will gain a lot from this game,” Hurley said. “Not having played in a couple weeks, and we travel him so much and play in so many games, it's hard to get him the live practice reps, so he’s going to have to do it here on the fly as we play games.”
Senior forward Basheer Jihad finished the game with six turnovers, including two in the last five minutes.
“I gotta make better decisions with the ball,” Jihad said. “I can’t have six turnovers in a game like that and turn it over late. You know that’s on me to be better with that and make the right read. I was kind of seeing things that weren't there. That’s what [ISU’s} defense is good at.”
Despite the disappointing finish, ASU opened the game with one of its best starts, and possibly best first halves, of the season.
Senior guard BJ Freeman got the scoring going right away for the Sun Devils, knocking down his first shot attempt of the night. By surprise, Quaintance scored ASU’s first 3-pointer of the night, establishing a 5-0 lead and holding ISU scoreless within the game's opening four minutes.
However, the Sun Devils continued their great play throughout the beginning of the first half with junior forward Shawn Phillips, who finished with a career-high four blocks on the night, slamming down a dunk to give ASU a 9-4 advantage as the Cyclones went on a three-minute scoring drought.
One of the better 3-point shooting teams in the Big 12, ISU had no problem hitting from range, knocking down 4-of-7 to begin the game.
But just as ISU was getting hot, so were the Sun Devils.
Senior guard Adam Miller knocked down back-to-back threes to tie the game at 20 with under seven minutes to go in the first half.
Led by Miller, the Sun Devils quickly flipped the switching in their shooting efforts from beyond the arc, nailing 4-of-5 from deep in the second part of the first half compared to a 1-of-6 start.
ISU found itself with a lead near the three-minute mark of the first half, but ASU took over in a big way right before halftime.
Following a corner three from Sanon and a defensive stop on the other end, ASU was guaranteed to have the leading heading into the half but also had the chance to take the last shot.
The Sun Devils left it to senior guard Alston Mason to launch a shot near the logo and swish it through the net to propel ASU to a 7-point lead heading into the half.
ASU started the first half the same way they ended it, sluggish.
Carried by 18 first-half points from the second-leading scorer in the Big 12, senior guard Curtis Jones, ISU continued to shoot well amidst ASU's energy decline.
With just over three minutes remaining in the game, the Cyclones grabbed their largest lead, eight, after going on a 9-0 run that lasted a minute and a half.
This was the point in the game when ISU’s fans began to take over Desert Finacial Arena.
Even as ASU’s junior defensive lineman Justin Wodtly walked over toward the ISU side of the stands, hoisting the Big 12 Championship trophy as students chanted, “Where’s your trophy?” ISU had already sealed the deal.
ASU will go on the road and play Colorado, who the Sun Devils have already defeated this season, on Tuesday before returning home to play against rival Arizona next Saturday.
“I’m looking at Colorado, and my main thing is, ‘Hey, fellas, I don’t know what Colorado is doing today, but they’re going to be desperate,’” Hurley said. “‘We have to be desperate again just like we were prior to West Virginia,’ and I felt like we were that way today like we came in here to win, and we played a winning game for like 35 minutes, and we just had a meltdown two minutes, and it cost us.”
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