A strong start defensively and a great second half offensively gave Arizona State (10-5; 1-1) an 82-76 win in Corvallis over Oregon State Thursday behind Remy Martin's 24 points and a strong performance by Rob Edwards off the bench, as the senior notched 18 points including four three-pointers.
ASU jumped out to a 36-25 lead at the half and held the Beavers to 8-of-23 (.348) from the field. ASU had 10 steals and five blocks, as Alonzo Verge was active with five assists and four steals and freshman Jalen Graham had six points, five boards and two blocks in a great team win.
"Sometimes you go through some adversity playing basketball and Arizona was one of 'em," said Martin, who was 9 of 19 from the field, talking about the Pac-12 opening loss in Tucson on Saturday. "We just overcame and we practiced hard and really locked in."
The Sun Devils improve on an impressive stat over the past two seasons, as ASU is 13-2 following a loss. ASU only had one two-losing streak last season, and it responded by winning five of its next six.
Martin has been outstanding on the road in his career, as four of his top five scoring games in away arenas.
REMY MARTIN TOP SCORING TILTS
33 at Princeton (11/26/19)
31 vs. Arizona (1/31/19)
27 at Arizona (3/9/19)
24 at Oregon State (1/9/20)
24 at California (1/9/19)
ASU took the lead for good with 4:56 left in the first half on Rob Edwards' 3-pointer, which ignited a 14-3 run to close the half.
Oregon State (11-4, 1-2) was coming off a 76-68 win at Colorado.
"Holding them to 25 at half was very good work," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said, as the Sun Devils are 3-1 in Corvallis in his five years at ASU.
The Sun Devils took their biggest lead at 62-45 on Martin's jumper with 9:34 remaining.
"They have great players who can score and I knew it was gonna be a full 40-minute fight, said Martin, who came into the game averaging a team-high 18.1 points per game.
Edwards gave the Sun Devils a big lift off the bench with 18 points, hitting 6 of 10 shots overall and 4 of 5 on 3-pointers, but was not in the starting lineup for the first time this season.
ROB EDWARDS TOP SUN DEVIL SCORING TILTS
28 at Utah (2/16/19)
23 vs. CCSU (11/14/19)
20 vs. Colorado/China (11/9/19)
18 at Oregon State (1/9/20)
19 vs. Arizona (1/31/19)
"It gave me a little more of an edge and hunger," Edwards said. "It's just like giving the team that spark that we needed."
Romello White added 12 points and nine rebounds for the Sun Devils.
"A tough way to open up things here at home in conference play," Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle said. "Give Arizona State credit. They came out hungrier than us."
QUICK OSU SERIES NOTES: ASU has now won three of the past four in Corvallis and is 7-2 in five seasons vs. the Beavers under Coach Hurley...ASU is 5-1 vs. the Beavers in the past three years...ASU is 17-5 vs. the Beavers in past 13 seasons...ASU swept the Beavers last year for the first time since 2009-10.
STARTING LINEUP COMBINATIONS (7)
Cherry, Edwards, Martin, Verge, White (3): Creighton, TSU, @UA
Cherry, Edwards, Martin, Valtonen, White (2): Georgia, SMC
Cherry, Lawrence, Martin, Verge, White (1): @OSU
Edwards, Martin, Thomas, Valtonen, White (3): @USF, LA, PVAM
Edwards, Lawrence, Martin, Valtonen, White (3): SJU, UVA, @PU
Edwards, Lawrence, Martin, Verge, White (1): Rider
Edwards, Graham, Lawrence, Martin, Verge (2): CCSU, CU