Dec 10, 2003
By Brian Gomez, TheSunDevils.com
For Arizona State's men's basketball team, figuring out Temple's zone defense was like solving a math problem: Right when you think you have the answer, another variable unexpectedly pops into the equation.
That was appropriate, given the fact that the Sun Devils were playing their last game Tuesday before final exams.
It took more than 36 minutes of frustration, but the numbers finally fell into place, as ASU overcame a seven-point deficit in the closing four minutes to beat Temple 70-66 at America West Arena.
Junior shooting guard Steve Moore and sophomore forward Ike Diogu provided the lift the Sun Devils needed down the stretch, combining to score their team's final 15 points to complete the dramatic comeback.
Diogu finished with a game-high 23 points, while Moore totaled 15, despite making only three of 12 shots from the field. Moore was 7-for-10 from the free-throw line, and dished out three assists.
"Temple was in control of the basketball game, and we just kept battling until some good things happened," ASU head coach Rob Evans said.
The Sun Devils (4-1) faced an uphill battle the entire second half, largely because Temple's matchup zone sagged down on Diogu and caused problems for Moore and freshman guard Tron Smith around the perimeter.
Trailing 62-55 with 4:41 remaining, Moore gave ASU the spark it needed with a four-point play that trimmed the lead to three points. On the Sun Devils' next trip up the floor, Diogu converted a three-point play, and Temple's seven-point edge had suddenly vanished.
"We saw the time ticking down, and we realized we didn't want to drop two games in a row," said Diogu, who was 7-for-10 from the field and 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. "A lot of people came out to support us. The crowd started getting hyped, and we needed stops, and we got them."
Temple (1-4) went ahead 66-64 with 1:42 left when freshman guard Dustin Salisbery laid in a bucket in the paint, but ASU responded as Diogu quickly scored on the other end to tie the game.
Redshirt freshman guard Kevin Kruger's steal gave the Sun Devils a chance to win, and Moore made the most of the opportunity, knocking down a long jumper on a pass from Smith that propelled his team to a 68-66 lead, its first of the game. After Temple drew a blank on its game-tying attempt, Moore came away with the loose ball, then tossed an alley-oop to Diogu, who slammed home a dunk as the Sun Devils sealed the deal in the game's waning moments.
"He's an All-American, and there's going to be no better hands than his hands, so I gave it to him," Moore said.
Problem solved.
UP NEXT: After an eight-day break for finals, ASU returns to action at 6 p.m. MST at Northwestern. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Arizona and heard on ESPN Radio 860 AM.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
By BOB BAUM
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) - Ike Diogu and Steve Moore led a 15-4 run over the final four minutes and Arizona State pulled out a 70-66 victory over Temple on Tuesday night.
The Sun Devils (4-1) never led until Moore sank an 18-footer to make it 68-66 with 32 seconds to play.
David Hawkins, who scored all 15 points in the second half but made just 4-of-17 shots, missed a jumper in traffic. Dustin Salisbery got the offensive rebound and missed, too, as an enraged Temple coach John Chaney called for a foul.
The game ended with a fastbreak stuff by Diogu, who made seven of 10 shots.
Diogu, a preseason all-American who has scored in double figures in all 37 of his college games, scored seven consecutive points in the late run. Moore scored 15, including a four-point play that ignited the winning surge.
Mardy Collins scored 19 for Temple, 14 in the first half as the Owls took a 34-29 lead. Salisbery added 18 points and 13 rebounds.
Temple (1-4) had 20 more shots than Arizona State, but the Sun Devils made 29 of 36 free throws, compared with 14-of-23 for the Owls. Three Temple players fouled out, including 7-foot-1 Keith Butler, who had made things difficult for Diogu much of the night.
Moore, 1-for-9 shooting up to that point, sank a 3-pointer and was fouled by Collins with 3:52 to go. He made the free throw to cut it to 62-59 with 3:52 remaining.
Diogu scored inside with a soft left-hander, and was fouled. The free throw tied it at 62-62 with 3:08 to go.
Diogu scored again to tie it at 66-66 with 1:25 left, was fouled, and had a chance to give Arizona State its first lead but missed the free throw.
Arizona State went without a field goal for the first 5:56 of the second half. Temple, meanwhile, sank four 3-pointers, the last two by David Hawkins, to go up 49-40 with 12:17 to go.
The Sun Devils scored the next seven points to cut it to 49-47 with 9:53 to go on Diogu's inside basket, his first shot of the second half.
But Hawkins was fouled by Moore on a 3-point try, made all three free throws to boost the lead to 52-47.
Temple's Antywane Robinson scored the first four points of the game, but sprained his left ankle on the second basket, a rebound dunk, and had to be helped off the court just over a minute into the contest. He did not return.
Temple's Nehemiah Ingram fouled out without scoring in 17 minutes.
Arizona State shot just under 40 percent, Temple 34 percent.
The teams had not met since 1976 at the Hawaii Classic in Honolulu.
The game was played at America West Arena, rather than ASU's home court, as a rehearsal for the NCAA Regional, to be held there next March.