Nov. 18, 2002
By Brian Gomez, thesundevils.com
The ASU men's basketball team got 34 points Monday night from freshman forward Ike Diogu.
With freshman forward Serge Angounou out for the seasons with an injured right knee, senior guard Curtis Millage sidelined because of an academic eligibility issue and senior forward Tommy Smith confined to the bench in foul trouble, the Sun Devils needed just about all of them. ASU squeaked out a 98-96 victory over Team EzyBonds before a crowd of 3,751 in the exhibition finale at Wells Fargo Arena.
"To this point, I haven't seen the commitment I want to see on the defensive end of the floor, and especially tonight on the glass," said Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans, whose team will begin the regular season when hosting Morehead State at 5:30 p.m. Friday. "It has to be a consistent effort for us to be a good basketball team."
Diogu, who was 21-of-33 from the floor in the two exhibition games and shot 77.8 percent from the floor his senior year, shouldered much of the load after the break for ASU, which went on a 6-0 run over the last 1:21 of the first half to draw even with Team EzyBonds, a traveling team consisting primarily of Australian players. He scored 10 of his team's first 14 points in the second half to give the Sun Devils a 63-59 lead with 13:52 remaining.
"I have no problem getting the ball on the block," said Diogu, who also hauled down a game-high 11 rebounds, eight of which came on the offensive end. "I was just trying to pick up the slack because we played pretty bad as a team. I was trying to give my team some energy anyway I could, whether it be rebounds, blocks or points."
ASU grabbed a four-point lead with just over nine minutes left when senior guard Kyle Dodd scored on a crossover, before junior guard Jamal Hill drained a turnaround jumper. But the Sun Devils fell behind by as many as four points five minutes later after Smith fouled out.
"You can't make those kinds of fouls," Evans said. "That's lack of concentration. We've got to get him to where he's more focused."
ASU went ahead by two points with 1:11 remaining on the strength of Hill's acrobatic lay-up. However, Team EzyBonds reclaimed the lead on the ensuing possession when forward Jason Sedlock drained a three-pointer.
Diogu answered the bell with a powerful dunk on a touch pass from senior forward Shawn Redhage. After Dodd made the second of two free throws, Team EzyBonds had a chance to draw even on their final possession, but forward Damien Anderson's off-balanced shot from beyond the arc failed to draw iron.
"There were a lot of things (Evans) didn't like about this game, and there were some things he did like, but he said all the mistakes we made are correctable," Diogu said. "We just need to come in on Wednesday ready to listen and ready to get better."
Three other Sun Devils besides Diogu finished in double figures, as Redhage had 15 points, freshman point guard Jason Braxton tossed in 14 and Hill added 13. Dodd also had eight rebounds, to go along with eight points. Center Jamie Holmes led Team EzyBonds with a team-high 19 points.
Notes: Diogu's 34 points would have been the second-best effort by a freshman Sun Devil, as Mario Bennett's 35 against Arizona in 1992 is the school record...ASU is 8-2 in exhibition games under Evans...Diogu had 22 points in the second half.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.