ASU runs out of gas, offense shut down late in loss to UCF

TEMPE — BJ Freeman’s 26 points weren’t enough for ASU men’s basketball in a 95-89 loss to UCF in a physical contest at Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday.

Freeman scored 15 of his points in the second half, posting an ASU career high for the third time in a four-game stretch.

He had eight of the Sun Devils’ points in a 16-6 run in the middle of the second half that saw ASU take its first lead since the first, and he later hit another jumper to take back the lead.

However, the Sun Devils made just one shot inside the final 2:29, and it came when the Knights were up by seven with 10 seconds remaining.

“I think I felt worse (after the loss to Baylor) on Saturday. I mean I thought we played pretty well,” coach Bobby Hurley said postgame. “Didn’t make some free throws in the second half.”

The Sun Devils were 8-for-14 at the line in the second half, good enough to be the difference in the game after a 9-for-12 first half.

It was the third straight loss for an ASU (10-6, 1-4) squad that hadn’t lost consecutive games all season prior.

Four technical fouls were called in the very physical affair, including three on UCF (12-4, 3-2): Hall hit Mason in the face on a post-up, UCF guard Jordan Ivy-Curry was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and double-technical fouls were assessed to Benny Williams and ASU big Shawn Phillips Jr. for a mix-up.

ASU played without freshman guard Joson Sanon (ankle) for the third time in a four-game stretch. He played 17 minutes in a loss to Baylor on Saturday but spent much of his time on the bench with the ankle wrapped.

UCF’s Keyshawn Hall scores 40 points on ASU

UCF wing Keyshawn Hall tore the ASU defense apart in the first half to the tune of 29 points on 11-for-13 shooting. The 6-foot-7 junior made his first six shots to reach 15 points in just 5:15 of game time, at which point ASU had just 12 points as a team.

“That kid put on a performance,” Hurley said. “I’m not sure that I’ve seen a kid play that well against me in one half of a game. Hats off to Hall, he was unbelievable.

“And it was hard to really game plan against what he does. … The only thing we could’ve done better with him is get back on defense (quicker).”

The Sun Devils turned to freshman Jayden Quaintance to weather the storm, and when he took on the assignment late in the first half, it led to three stops of Hall in one drawn-out possession.

He had another block against Hall late to add to his tally of five blocks on the night. Hall played just 12 minutes in the second half after picking up his fourth foul early, which helped ASU rid itself of his scoring.

He still managed 11 points in the half to finish with the career-high 40 on 13-for-18 shooting.

Quaintance became a bigger part of the offensive approach down the stretch of the first half and it continued into the second. He finished with a career high 20 points.

“Just trying to trust myself a little bit more, be a little bit more aggressive I feel like,” Quaintance said of the career night. “Again, slowly but surely, I’m trying to get a little bit better and show what I can do on offense.”

The Sun Devils embark on a two-game road trip, playing next against Cincinnati at 12 p.m. MST on Saturday.