Dec. 12, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Ike Diogu had 13 of his 19 points in the second half, and junior college transfer Bryson Krueger scored a season-high 23 points to lead Arizona State to a 75-59 win over UC Riverside on Sunday night.
Diogu, who scored in double figures for the 67th time in as many games, also had nine rebounds to lead the Sun Devils (7-1) to their best start since the 1990-91 team went 9-1.
Rickey Porter had 17 points and Vili Morton 15 for the Highlanders (3-3).
Krueger had 19 points in the first half, and the Sun Devils closed with a 12-2 run to take a 35-23 lead at the break.
Krueger was 5-for-6 on 3-pointers in the half, sinking his fifth with 1:27 left to open the Sun Devils' first 12-point lead at 33-21. Krueger had 14 in ASU's 89-81 win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Dec. 6, as he is 7-of-10 from the three-point stripe in his past two games.
The Highlanders opened the second half with a 13-6 run featuring Porter's three-point play and a 3-pointer 39 seconds later that cut the deficit to 41-36 with 13:57 to go.
But Diogu had a three-point play, six other free throws and a putback as the Sun Devils surged to a 63-42 lead with 7:30 remaining.
GAME NOTES: ASU shot 17-of-22 (.773) from the free throw line. In the past three games it is 61-of-76 (.803) from the charity stripe...Diogu is now averaging 24.3 points and 10.1 rebounds. He just missed a double-double with nine rebounds, the 12th time in his career he has recorded nine caroms. He is now 82-of-91 (.901) on the year from the free throw line...Jason Braxton matched a career-high with eight boards and is averaging 7.6 rebounds in his past three games. He has 31 assists and just 11 turnovers on the year...Kevin Kruger is now 15-of-33 (.455) from the three-point stripe on the year.