Jan 17, 2004
By Brian Gomez, TheSunDevils.com
LOS ANGELES - The fight was there Saturday for the Arizona State men's basketball team, just like it had been throughout the season.
This time, the finish finally came, too.
Sophomore sensation Ike Diogu scored a game-high 27 points, and his teammates made a host of invaluable contributions, as ASU snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Southern California 100-85 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.
"This is a long season, but this is a win that these guys can grow from," said Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans, whose team shot 61.2 percent from the field, 71.4 percent from three-point range and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line only two nights after a woeful shooting performance against UCLA. "They came on the road and played extremely hard, they played very smart for the most part, and they did the things that we have been trying to get them to do."
The much-needed victory not only kept ASU from falling into the basement of the Pac-10, but it also provided reason for hope in a turbulent season that had been spiraling downward in a hurry.
"It's only one win, but it is a step up," Sun Devil senior swingman Jamal Hill said. "It's a confidence builder, and it lets us know that if we work hard, and if we listen to what the coaches have to say, and if we go out there and apply it on the court, good things will happen."
Diogu got his due thanks to a 6-for-9 effort from the field, including a career-best 3-for-3 mark from beyond the arc, and a 12-for-12 outing from the charity stripe, although this one required a team effort, especially against a USC squad that was riding high following Thursday's upset win over No. 7-ranked Arizona.
Coming off the bench, Hill scored a career-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Junior point guard Jason Braxton marked his second career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 12 assists. Junior guard Steve Moore added 17 points in his return to his hometown. And freshman forward Keith Wooden tossed in a season-high 13 points before fouling out with 4:49 remaining.
"I just tried to stick to my role and hit the open shots," Wooden said. "A lot of times, I'm a little more tentative, but I was just relaxed today. I came out, and I was focused."
The Sun Devils (7-7, 1-4 Pac-10) trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, however, whittled the deficit to three at the break, then took the lead for good less than one minute into the second half on Diogu's pair of free throws.
Buoyed by consistent play from Diogu and defensive aggressiveness that wasn't always present in the first half, ASU took a 10-point lead with less than 12 minutes left, and had enough wherewithal to fight off multiple USC runs down the stretch.
The Trojans (8-7, 3-3) trimmed the deficit to six points with 10:48 to go, but Wooden answered with a short jumper in the lane on a pass from Braxton. When USC pulled within eight points five minutes later, Moore buried a three-pointer to give ASU an 83-72 lead. The final push came in the closing four minutes, as the Sun Devils scored 11 unanswered points after the Trojans had clawed within seven.
"We can't have just me scoring," Diogu said. "Everybody on this team is capable of scoring. There's no reason for us not to come out and play like this all the time."
Senior guard Desmon Farmer led USC with 26 points. Junior forward Jeff McMillan scored 11 points, and senior center Jonathan Oliver and freshman guard Lodrick Stewart had 10 apiece.
UP NEXT: ASU returns home at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against Oregon. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Net and heard on ESPN Radio 860 AM.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Ike Diogu had 27 points as Arizona State overcame a 14-point first-half deficit to beat USC 100-85 Saturday night.
Arizona State outscored USC 79-50 in the final 26 minutes of the game to end a streak of seven consecutive losses against the Trojans in Los Angeles.
Diogu, who scored 19 points in the first half, made six of nine field goal tries, including all three of his 3-point shots, and was a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line.
He has scored 10 or more points in all 46 games of his college career and his streak of double-digit games is the longest of any player in the nation.
Jamal Hill came off the bench for the Sun Devils to score 20 points. Stevie Moore scored 17 points, and Jason Braxton had 12 points and a career-high 12 assists.
Arizona State (7-7, 1-4 Pacific-10 Conference) was 30-for-38 from the foul line, and 10-for-14 from behind the 3-point line.
Desmon Farmer led USC with 26 points, but 18 came in the first half, as did all four of his successful 3-point attempts.
Arizona State shot 61 percent from the floor (30-for-49) and made 15 of 22 shots in the second half (68 percent).
USC (8-7, 3-3) made 47 percent of its shots (15-for-32), in the first half, but shot just 31 percent (11-for-35) in the second.
The Sun Devils' 100 points was their highest total of the season.