Edwards comes through late as ASU survives Oregon State rally
Jan 18, 2019, 12:04 AM
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley yells at the officials during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Oregon State, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
TEMPE, Ariz. – Bobby Hurley will take Pac-12 wins any way he can get them right now. But he had to sweat out every last second of Thursday’s victory over Oregon State.
Five different Sun Devils reached double figures as Arizona State edged the Beavers 70-67. Rob Edwards led a balanced attack for Hurley’s group with 13 points, including two big free throws in the closing seconds to put ASU up three. Taeshon Cherry chipped in 12 points of his own, and Zylan Cheatham led all players with 13 rebounds.
OSU had a chance to send it to overtime at the very end, but Ethan Thompson missed a three-pointer as time expired. He finished tied with teammate Tres Tinkle for a game-high 21 points as the Beavers suffered their first conference loss of the season.
It really didn’t even have to be this close, though. The Devils went on a 15-1 run in the first half, then came sprinting out of the gate with a 9-0 run to start the second half. They led 40-22 at that point but kept the door open for OSU by missing 12 of their 22 free throws.
That’s been an issue for this ASU team before.
“Just the free throws,” Remy Martin lamented after the game. “We’ve just got to dial it in. Those will come back and hurt us more if we don’t focus in and actually sink our free throws — including myself. I definitely have to hit free throws and extend the game. Those actually come back and they could hurt us. So we’ve just got to get back in the gym and really concentrate and make our free throws.”
Fortunately for the Sun Devils, Edwards didn’t waver from the line. He only got two attempts all night, but they were the two biggest. He sunk them both with the game hanging in the balance, and Cheatham came up huge down the stretch as well, delivering a pair of thunderous dunks in the final minute.
After surviving the Beavers’ late rally, ASU has now won ten straight over Oregon State in Tempe. And Hurley’s group pushed their Pac-12 record this season above .500 in the process, which has been a problem for them lately.
Arizona State jumped out to a 12-0 record a year ago, punctuating an impressive non-conference showing with a resounding win over then-No. 2 Kansas. But the Sun Devils slogged their way to a mediocre 8-10 mark in conference play after that, barely surviving the bubble to get into the NCAA Tournament.
Even with a number of new guys playing key roles this time around, the similarities to last season have been eerie. ASU notched another impressive victory over Kansas back on Dec. 22, but things have gotten shaky ever since.
The win tonight was anything but pretty, with potential first-round draft pick Luguentz Dort held completely off the scoreboard until 1:40 had elapsed in the second half. But ugly might be the way this team has to win games for a while.
“We’re not like last year,” Hurley explained. “How we were built to just drain threes everywhere and run up and down and, at times, be capable of blowing teams out. We’ve got to grind it out some on defense, like we did. Just to hold a team like that to 22 points through like 25 or 26 minutes was a real accomplishment.”
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils host Oregon Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.
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