The Sun Devil men's basketball team learned another important lesson Wednesday night, but it wasn't greeted with open arms.
ASU discovered that energized play in the second half can't negate a slow start, poor free throw shooting and a barrage of missed shots from their biggest offensive threats. The Sun Devils walked out of Wells Fargo Arena with the hope of improvement in the long run, but still felt the sting after a 64-60 loss to Brigham Young.
"I'm tired of these learning experiences," said ASU senior forward Tommy Smith, who finished with 13 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the field, but turned the ball over six times. "I'm ready to start winning these games we're supposed to win."
The Sun Devils (4-2) shot 41.3 percent from inside the arc, but most of their problems again came at the charity stripe. They made only 5 of 15 attempts from the free throw line to drop to 59.3 percent on the season.
"If you're going to win close ball games like this against good teams, you've got to do the small things, and one of the small things is making free throws," ASU head coach Rob Evans said. "I don't understand why you can't shoot free throws. We shoot tons of free throws every kind of way you can shoot them."
Despite trailing by as many as 12 points after the break, the Sun Devils crawled to within shouting distance for a majority of the second half. Smith knocked down a short jumper and converted a driving lay-up to put a cap on a 7-0 run that cut the deficit to two points with 9:53 remaining.
However, the Cougars (5-0) quickly pushed the lead up to five points less than two minutes later when junior center Rafael Araujo laid in a bucket before sophomore forward John Allen buried an uncontested three-pointer. ASU drew even with 2:08 left after Smith stole the ball from sophomore forward Jared Jensen and put back his own miss on the other end.
Brigham Young answered on the ensuing possession with senior swingman Travis Hansen's lay-in over senior guard Curtis Millage. After Araujo missed the second of two free throws, the Sun Devils had a chance to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left, but Millage's three-pointer came up short.
"Next time, it will go down," said Millage, who was 1-for-6 from beyond the arc and made 5 of 15 shots from the field for 11 points. "I got a pretty good look. I just needed a little bit more arch."
Jensen gave ASU fits all night long, especially early in the first half when he scored 10 of his 12 points. Sun Devil freshman forward Ike Diogu, who had 15 points and eight rebounds, could handle the physical play brought on by the Cougars, but was 7-for-15 from the field with three turnovers.
"I was getting out-competed by their big men and I knew I could play better than that," Diogu said. "I just had to go out there and make my actions speak louder than my words."
One of the few positives for the Sun Devils was the play of junior forward Jamal Hill, who found his spots on the floor and drained 5 of 7 shots for 12 points. Hill scored five points on one trip up court early in the second half to help put ASU in position to make a run down the stretch.
"Coach Evans tells me when I get in to just play with a lot of energy," Hill said. "My main thing when I come in is to try to play defense and shut guys down, but if my shot is there, I'm going to take it."
Sun Devil senior forward Chris Osborne also made some contributions while playing six minutes a day after aggravating a sprained ankle during practice. Osborne's putback on Millage's missed three-pointer brought the Sun Devils to within three points with 6:49 remaining.
"He was questionable, so we didn't know whether he could play, but we had to have him because of his size and his physical presence," Evans said. "He played tough, that's what it called for."
GAME NOTES: There were six ties and four lead changes ... The 7,105 in attendance was ASU's largest home crowd of the season ... The Sun Devils were out-rebounded for the second straight year by Brigham Young, losing the battle on the boards, 37-32 ... ASU shot 27.3 percent from three-point range ... Sun Devil sophomore point guard Jason Braxton scored only one point in 24 minutes.
UP NEXT: ASU is scheduled to return to action at 7 p.m. Saturday when traveling to Utah. The meeting will mark the second between the schools in the past 11 days, as the Sun Devils bested the Utes 83-79 on Nov. 27 to capture fifth place at the Maui Invitational.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.