Martin gets Sun Devils going in second half of win over Cal
Jan 9, 2019, 9:38 PM | Updated: 9:40 pm
BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Remy Martin scored a season-high 24 points, including five 3-pointers, Zylan Cheatham had 17 points and six rebounds, and Arizona State overcame a sloppy first half and beat California 80-66 on Wednesday night.
Rob Edwards added 13 points and six rebounds while Luguentz Dort also scored 13 points for the Sun Devils (11-4, 2-1 Pac-12).
It’s the second straight win for Bobby Hurley’s squad following back-to-back losses to Princeton and Utah.
Arizona State trailed by 14 late in the first half but closed on an 11-2 run then opened the second half with another big run to take the lead for good.
Martin led the surge with a trio of 3s in a two-minute span, the last of which put the Sun Devils up 60-46.
Matt Bradley’s short jumper pulled Cal within 71-63 with 3:30 left before Romello White made consecutive dunks to help Arizona State pull away.
Bradley scored 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting for the Golden Bears (5-10, 0-3) and Darius McNeill added 16 points. Cal has lost four straight.
Arizona State missed 11 of its first 12 shots and trailed 25-11 with 6:23 left in the first half.
After Hurley called a timeout three minutes later and angrily yelled at a pair of his players, the Sun Devils responded with 12 consecutive points and closed withing 35-33 at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
Arizona State: The Sun Devils have yet to hit the stride many expected them to be in once conference play started and they got away with a less-than-impressive effort against the Bears. They’ll have to get significantly better if they are to get to the top of the Pac-12 standings and back into the AP Top 25. Martin’s perimeter shooting in the second half helped get the game back in the Sun Devils favor. Cheatham also came up big but may miss Saturday’s game against Stanford for personal reasons.
California: The Bears played about as good a first half as they could play but they couldn’t keep it going in the second half and wound up on the wrong end of another lopsided loss. Coach Wyking Jones team is winless in conference after winning only twice in the Pac-12 a year ago.
UP NEXT
Arizona State: Plays at Stanford on Saturday.
California: Hosts Arizona on Saturday.
