By Adam Beadle
Multimedia Specialist
It appeared that Arizona State would turn the lights off early inside Desert Financial Arena. The team started the game by shooting 100 percent from beyond the arc and building an early lead.
Instead, the Sun Devils had to fight until the final seconds against a team they were supposed to beat by a landslide. Unable to get Cal Poly to disappear late, the Sun Devils escaped with a 93-89 win over the Mustangs.
With the Mustangs scoring more against ASU than any opponent this season, one more point than Gonzaga, Cal Poly senior guard Jarred Hyder scored a game-high 25 points, the most a single player has scored against the Sun Devils this season. Head coach Bobby Hurley felt the Sun Devils’ defense took a step back.
“We didn’t really guard them individually off the dribble, and we didn’t guard the [three-point] line,” Hurley said. “One-on-one, they made some difficult shots, certainly. But overall, that end of the floor hurt us. We had different times where we got it to [a double-digit lead], got it to where we could’ve taken control of the game, and then we let them get back in and let them keep hanging around in the game.”
“They fought hard.”
Winning by a slim margin, ASU was forced to a shootout late. Though six players scored in double digits, senior guard Adam Miller wasn't necessarily comfortable with it, but he was confident about it.
“If it is a shootout, I mean, we got some shooters,” Miller said.
Miller was one of those shooters. Shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc on the night, Miller, tying a season-high 16 points, made some key shots late that helped to boost the Sun Devils when they needed it most.
“It was a good veteran thing to do,” Hurley said. “A guy that’s played a lot, you know, and I know people have been talking a lot more, just about, with good reason, about our freshman and new guys and stuff, but [Miller], I thought in a game we were in a little bit of trouble, he came in and made some big shot.”
One of those new freshmen is worth talking about tonight, though. Freshman guard Joson Sanon scored a new career-high 22 points, 15 of which came in the first half, only scoring seven in the second.
“Good teams will adjust,” Hurley said about Sanon having a lower production in the second half. “We had a conservative effort to get him the ball, and he had the ball in space. He drove it more. I think they were really crowding him knowing what he’s done the last couple of games, especially hitting the threes and shooting, so he was able to get by his man and get to the free throw line a little more.”
ASU was also without junior guard Austin Nunez and senior forward Shawn Phillips tonight, leaving the Sun Devils with a seven-man rotation. Despite not having one of its pivotal big men off the bench, Hurley said he thought the team rebounded well.
Although it seemed rough toward the end, the Sun Devils played well to open the gate. ASU made back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers from Miller, Jihad, and senior guard BJ Freeman, who was credited the assists for the first two shots from deep.
Coming off the bench again in what now seems like a usual sixth-man spot, Sanon knocked down his first two shot attempts, including a 3-pointer. Like that, ASU had already made five shots from deep in less than six minutes into the game and was on an 11-1 run out of the first media timeout.
ASU’s defense was playing well to start, anchored by the reach and athleticism of freshman forward Jayden Quantaince, who finished the first half with four blocks. Quaintance had a really impressive sequence when he scored, made an impressive driving dunk, ran back to the other end of the floor to get a block, and then was right under the rim to throw it down again.
ASU had an 8-point lead going into the half and got off to a good start as the second began.
Miller hit another three in the corner to start the half as Alston Mason began to take over, quickly accumulating 7-points with some nice moves driving to the basket. Shortly after, the Sun Devils started to become loose.
ASU struggled to keep possession of the ball and often scrambled for it, leaving the door open for Cal Poly to climb the scoreboard. With nine minutes left in the first half, the Mustangs were within three of the Sun Devils.
For a moment, ASU did turn up the intensity as senior guard BJ Freeman lobbed it up to freshman guard Amier Ali, who threw down the alley-oop. But for every piece of momentum ASU found in the late stages of the game, the Mustangs answered.
Sanon didn’t score his first points of the second half until he made a free throw with about seven minutes left to go in the game. ASU went on a dry spell lasting around four minutes and was still careless with the ball. The Mustangs quickly responded and came within one point of the Sun Devils with 2:50 left to play.
But the Sun Devils were able to pull away thanks to one of the things that has been key for them this season: their free throw shooting. A bright spot of ASU’s play this season compared to last year, the Sun Devils were finally met with some struggles at the free-throw line Wednesday night after only converting on 27 of their 41 attempts. However, Hurley said that free throws shouldn’t be a problem over time, considering how good of shooters they have.
Hyder continued to make plays at the end of the game, but it wasn’t enough, as the Sun Devils would win their third game in a row and improve to 5-1 on the year.
ASU has eight days before they travel to Palm Springs to take on New Mexico, which is time Hurley said will be valuable for his players to get healthy after the busy start to the year.
“We’ve played a lot of games,” Hurley said. “We’ve traveled quite a bit too. If you want to add the Duke thing to it, I mean, that’s a lot for a few weeks, so these eight days will be great for us.”
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