STANFORD, Calif. – Fighting an uphill battle a majority of the game, the Arizona State men’s basketball team fell in gut wrenching fashion, 75-73, Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.
Trailing from the 18:05 mark on, the Sun Devils would fall behind by as much as 11, before climbing back late in the second half. On a 15-4 run a Tra Holder layup with 1:41 remaining would give Bobby Hurley’s squad their first lead of the contest. Following a Stanford score, Arizona State would then retain the lead, 73-72, off a Savon Goodman bucket with .48 ticks left.
Despite the Sun Devils valiant second half effort, their one-point advantage would not hold. The Cardinal would move the game back to a tie, as Dorian Pickens would make one of two at the charity stripe.
Arizona State would then see a quality perimeter look from Holder fail to the find the bottom of the net, granting Stanford procession with just eight seconds remaining.
Rosco Allen who recorded a game-high 24 points would ultimately play hero for the Cardinal, running the length of the court off the inbound, scoring on the opposite end to give Stanford a 75-73 lead with .5 ticks remaining.
“We knew that they were just going to try and get it in and push the basketball and try and attack the basket.” Said coach Hurley regarding Allen's game winning score. “We didn't do a great job of keeping (Rosco) Allen in front, but that was a regular occurrence throughout the course of the game. He made big plays driving the basketball for them tonight. It was a great drive.”
With no timeouts at hand, Arizona State would then see a Gerry Blakes midcourt attempt at the buzzer rattle hard off the board. The Sun Devils fall to 11-9 on the season, 1-6 in conference play.
Despite losing by a margin of five or less for a second-consecutive game, the Sun Devils once again showed moxie down the stretch. Hurley’s squad for the sixth time this season overcame a deficit of nine or more while playing on the road.
Arizona State finished a cumulative 42.9 percent (27-63) from the field while going 34.6 percent (9-26) from beyond the arc. The Sun Devils struggled to convert at the foul line shooting 58.8 percent (10-17).
On the night four Sun Devils scored in double-figures. Holder had a solid overall outing, leading Arizona State with 18 points, while adding five assists and four rebounds.
Willie Atwood who has notched 14 double-digit scoring outings on the season, added 16 points and five rebounds.
Junior forwards Obinna Oleka and Goodman each finished with 11 points respectively.
The Sun Devils excelled on the boards outrebounding the Cardinal 37-30, led by seven rebounds apiece from guards Gerry Blakes and Kodi Justice. 13 offensive rebounds would account for 14 second-chance points for Arizona State in comparison to just six for Stanford.
UP NEXT…
The Sun Devils return home to play host to the 11-6 Oregon State Beavers Thurs. Jan 28 at 6:30 p.m. You can catch the action on Pac-12 Networks. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (620 AM), presented by MidFirst Bank.
ASU is 7-1 vs. the Beavers in the past eight years and 25-12 against Oregon State in Tempe since it joined the Pac-10 in 1978-79, its most wins in Tempe against any team since joining the loop.