Fork Report: Arizona State blows out Oregon State 86-68
Jan 28, 2016, 9:56 PM | Updated: Jan 29, 2016, 6:58 am
(AP Photo/Matt York)
A fast start and Arizona State had not shared the same court for weeks, which would explain why they had dropped six of seven games to open Pac-12 play.
Sure, the Sun Devils had rallied in those defeats to make the final outcome respectable, but respect doesn’t earn NCAA Tournament invites.
Wins do.
Five players scored in double figures as ASU (12-9, 2-6) drove out to an early lead and never took its foot off the gas to beat Oregon State, 86-68, in front of a Thursday night crowd of 6,074 at Wells Fargo Arena.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak.
It was over quick.
A 22-4 first-half run put the Sun Devils in front, 30-9.
They carried a 36-17 lead into the locker room and pushed their advantage to as much as 27 on Andre Spight’s 3-pointer eight minutes into the second half.
Oregon State’s 17 first-half points were an season-low for an ASU opponent.
Obinna Oleka led the way with a game-high 17 points, while Gerry Blakes (16), Willie Atwood (13), Eric Jacobsen (10), and Savon Goodman (10) all reached double figures.
It was ASU’s eighth straight home win over Oregon State (12-7, 3-5), which has now dropped nine conference road games in a row.
THE GOOD
Four players each had five points in the first eight minutes as ASU took an early 20-5 lead. Atwood, Blakes, Jacobsen and Oleka all contributed with Atwood, Blakes and Oleka hitting 3s and Jacobsen going the conventional route with an and-1. Blakes hit his 3 from about 25-feet out just before the shot clock expired, part of a 12-0 run as the Sun Devils made 7-of-10 field goals to start the game.
On this night, ASU didn’t need Tra Holder’s scoring. They needed his defense, which he excelled at, holding the conference’s second-leading scorer, Gary Payton II, to two points, well below his season average of 17.5 points per game. Payton missed six of his seven shots, including a trio of 3-pointers. Holder, who averages 15.9 a game, finished with eight, plus six rebounds and eight assists.
THE BAD
The great start by ASU was tempered some by the slow finish to the first half. The offense stalled as the Sun Devils made just two field goals the last six minutes. In fact, they had more turnovers, three, than successful shots from the field. Both of those were scored by Atwood, who had a lay-up and 3-pointer, and the later ended an almost three-minute scoreless drought by ASU.
Less than eight second-half minutes is all Oregon State needed to surpass its first-half point total. Stephen Thompson, Jr. hit a 3-pointer at 11:42 to give the Beavers 35 points, part of an 8-0 run that pulled Oregon State to within 19, 59-40, the closest they would get until the final seconds of the game. Thompson, coming off the bench, scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
STAT OF THE GAME
59.3: ASU shot a season-high 59.3 percent from the field, which included a 45.8 percent mark from beyond the arc; it’s their best shooting performance in a Pac-12 game since a 63.8 percent effort at Washington on Feb. 2, 2013
HE SAID IT
“It’s a good feeling right now to see the team play that way,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “It started on defense, how we guarded them in the first half and the numbers reflected that. I thought we had great energy.”
NOTED
ASU trailed for all of 22 seconds; they had held a lead for just 23 combined seconds over its last three games (losses to Washington, Cal, and Stanford).
ASU assisted on 24 of its 32 field goals; the most assists in a Pac-12 game since they also had 24 against Oregon State on March 5, 2011.
ASU outrebounded Oregon State, 39-24, with five players grabbing five or more boards, led by Goodman’s eight, seven of which came in the first half.
The last time ASU held an opponent under 20 points in the first half was against then-18th ranked Texas A&M, when the Aggies managed just 19 on Dec. 5.
Eighteen-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps joined ASU’s “942 Crew” student section, participating in the “Curtain of Distraction” in the second half.
In addition to Phelps, former ASU point guard Derek Glasser, the Sun Devils career leader in assists, games and free throw percentage, was in attendance.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils mini two-game homestand ends with a visit from No. 23 Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 31.
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with pregame coverage beginning 30 minutes earlier on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.
The Ducks have won each of the past three matchups, including a season series sweep a year ago that saw Oregon pin a 68-67 overtime defeat on ASU on its last trip to Tempe.