Feb. 19, 2011
Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery
By: Dushan Mladenovic, ASU Media Relations
A great team performance earned a much needed win today for Arizona State (10-16, 2-12 Pac-10) as they beat the Washington State Cougars (17-10, 7-8 Pac-10) 71-69 at Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils broke their 11 game winless streak and put up their tenth win of the season.
ASU jumped out quick finding some offense and applying good pressure on the Cougars with their zone defense. They maintained a small lead through-out the first half and led by up to 13 points late in the half. The Sun Devils led 40-28 at the half.
Washington State came alive in the second half behind the shooting of Klay Thompson who put up 24 points in the second half. The Cougars slowly made their way back to tie the game with a few minutes remaining but the Sun Devils were able to make big plays and make free throws to secure the win.
"We just came out with energy and we played it hard all 40 minutes", commented Trent Lockett. "We'd always either have a run or have a good half but we'd have let-ups and let our leads away or wouldn't finish off possessions and stuff like that so I think it was just putting a full game together finally."
Trent Lockett led the Sun Devils with 20 points and eight rebounds while Chanse Creekmur's hot hand from three added a career-high 18 points. Freshman such as Keala King, Corey Hawkins and Creekmur stepped up big providing a spark for the team. Hawkins and Creekmur both had their first career starts.
Eight Sun Devils put up points as the team shot a 51.1 percent (24 of 47) from the field and 37.5 percent (9 of 24) from three. Creekmur contributed the most from behind the arc as he knocked down five threes. The biggest difference in their game was their shooting from the free throw line which was crucial late in the game. They were 77.8 percent from the line making 14 of their 18 attempts.
"It gives our guys some confidence going into the rest of the season and I think we can build off of this and keep getting better. It gives us something to work for", commented Chanse Creekmur on getting the win.
ASU was without some senior leadership today as both Ty Abbott and Rihards Kuksiks were unable to play. Kuksiks is dealing with an ankle sprain and Abbott has a left shoulder injury suffered last game against Washington.
Arizona State travels to Los Angeles, Calif. next weekend to take on UCLA and USC. The Sun Devils return to Wells Fargo Arena Thursday, March 3 to take on the Oregon Ducks at 6:30 p.m.