Nov 29, 2003
By Brian Gomez, TheSunDevils.com
More transition in the lineup brought about more encouraging results Saturday afternoon for Arizona State's men's basketball team.
The Sun Devils ran players back and forth from the scorer's table like solicitors going door to door around neighborhoods, yet still discovered the rhythm needed to attain satisfaction.
Using a dozen players throughout the game, ASU overcame an eight-point deficit on the strength of an 18-2 run early in the second half, and downed UC Riverside 77-68 at Wells Fargo Arena.
Sophomore forward Ike Diogu paced the Sun Devils during the six-minute stretch, scoring 10 of his career-high 31 points. Junior guard Steve Moore and freshman forward Wilfried Fameni finished with 16 apiece to complement Diogu. Fameni also had a game-high 13 rebounds, tied for the sixth most by a freshman in school history.
"If I stuck five or six guys out there, we could be pretty consistent, but we would be the same team in March that we are today," ASU head coach Rob Evans said. I've got to try to get some experience for these guys for this year, and for the future. We've got to be a better team in January than we are today, and the only way we're going to do that is by playing guys and getting experience."
With Diogu lounging in the post after the break, guards Tron Smith and Jason Braxton fed their perennial leader the ball early and often, as the Sun Devils (3-0) clawed their way back into the game.
Diogu started the comeback with a driving layup, then Fameni put back Smith's missed jumper, bringing ASU within four points with 16:53 remaining. Diogu converted a three-point play to cut the lead to 43-42, before Smith's steal and lay-in gave the Sun Devils a lead they would not relinquish.
"The more games you play, the more experience you gain," Fameni said. "I didn't even know I was starting until five minutes before the game. I'm always focused and ready to play because you never know when coach is going tocall on you to go out there and play."
On the next trip up the floor, Diogu knocked down a three-pointer on a pass from Braxton, putting ASU ahead by four points. Diogu later drained a turnaround jumper from the baseline as his previous career high was suddenly in danger of being broken.
"our intensity level really picked up, and we started getting after it on the defensive end, and we kind of took them out of some stuff they wanted to do," said Diogu, who was 10-for-16 from the field and 10-for-15 from the free-throw line and also grabbed nine rebounds.
The thought of Diogu surpassing his career high in points didn't seem plausible during a first half in which the Sun Devils turned the ball over eight times. ASU had a six-point lead 11 minutes into the game behind Diogu's nine points over a three-minute stretch, but Riverside (0-3) reeled off eight straight to soar ahead 30-27 with 4:45 left before the break. Riverside led 37-31 at halftime.
As a team, the Sun Devils shot 53.2 percent from inside the arc, 33.3 percent from three-point range and 75 percent from the charity stripe. They outrebounded the Highlanders 35-23.
UP NEXT: ASU returns to action at 6 p.m. MST Wednesday at Nebraska. The game can be heard on ESPN Radio 860 AM.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Ike Diogu scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Arizona State past Cal-Riverside 77-68 in a non-conference game Saturday.
Arizona State went on a 16-2 run early in the second half to erase a first-half deficit.
Wilfried Fameni added 16 points and 13 rebounds while Steve Moore had 16 for the Sun Devils (3-0).
Vili Morton had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Highlanders (0-3) before fouling out with 3:39 left.
Cal-Riverside finished the half on a 18-4 run to take a 37-31 lead at intermission.
Arizona State then held Cal-Riverside scoreless for 4:08 to regain the lead. The Sun Devils scored six points in a row to take a 53-45 lead with 11:46.
Cal-Riverside's Matt Benson hit two straight 3-pointers to cut the lead to 56-55 with 8:50 left but Arizona State finished the afternoon on a 21-13 run to pull away.
The Sun Devils held Cal-Riverside to 25 of 55 shooting from the field (46 percent) and outrebounded the Highlanders 35-23.
Nate Carter had 18 points and Kevin Butler added 11 for Cal-Riverside.
Diogu, who has scored in double digits in all 35 of his career games, scored 27 points three times as a freshman last season en route to Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.