Nov. 26, 1999
By PETE IACOBELLI
AP Sports Writer
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico (AP) - Eddie House, held to two baskets against Texas, took it out on American University at Puerto Rico with 19 points and 10 rebounds in Arizona State's 103-63 victory Friday night.
House, the Sun Devils' senior point guard who averages 19 points a game, had an awful game Thursday in an 88-71 loss to Texas at the Puerto Rico Shootout. He was 2-of-9, missed his four three-point tries and had four turnovers.
This time, he came out firing against the NCAA Division II team. House took the game's first shot - a missed 3-pointer - but then quickly found his mark with 15 points in opening half.
House also had eight rebounds, three steals and no turnovers in the first 20 minutes as Arizona State (2-1) led 56-32 at the break. He played only seven minutes of the second half.
The Sun Devils face Virginia (3-1), an 80-64 winner over Providence, for fifth place. The Pirates (0-2) meet the Friars (1-3) in the seventh-place game Saturday.
Joseph Rodriguez, who scored 19 points in American's 114-69 loss to DePaul in the opening round, led the Pirates with 17 points. He was nine of 10 on foul shots.
House scored nine points during a 19-6 run in the first half and Arizona State's lead grew from 11 points to 46-22.
Arizona State kept it up in the second half despite mostly reserves finishing up.
Officials kept a tight reign on this game, wanting to avoid the problems that occurred here in last December when Ramon Gomez was ejected for a flagrant foul to the head of Oklahoma's Tim Heskett.
Players and coaches piled onto the floor, some push and shoving began and referee Eric Harmon cleared the floor, declared the gave over and awarded Oklahoma a 2-0 forfeit victory.
Here, Arizona State's Awvee Story of Arizona State was called for a technical after one hard foul on Rodriguez. Officials cleared sent players to the bench after one pileup where Sun Devils freshman Tommy Smith ended up on the floor.
American's Rodriguez tried to draw a call in the second half, then was whistled for an intentional foul after he appeared to trip freshman Donnell Knight.
Smith and the Sun Devils answered the best way they could, with several rim-rattling dunks that got the home crowd of about 300 booing him.