Khalid Thomas’ late 3-pointer pushes Sun Devils past Princeton

The Sun Devils took revenge on the Princeton Tigers Tuesday night with a 67-65 road victory as Khalid Thomas made a go-ahead three-point basket with seconds remaining on the clock.

Princeton beat Arizona State on its home court 67-66 last season.

Much like the game last season, Arizona State started out slow on both sides of the ball and trailed 31-26 at halftime.

The Sun Devil offense started the opening half missing 10 of their first 15 shots and facing a 12-point deficit halfway through. A 7-0 run in the final two minutes cut the gap.

Meanwhile, Princeton senior center Richmond Aririguzoh torched the Devils’ defense and nearly achieved a double-double in the first 20 minutes of play, scoring 12 points and gathering nine rebounds. He would finish the game with 16 points and 23 rebounds.

Arizona State opened the final 20 minutes of play going on an 11-5 run and took their first lead of the game.

After Tigers’ guard Jose Morales made a three-point basket to regain the lead for Princeton, Arizona State responded with a 9-0 run, five of which came from Remy Martin, to regain the lead.

However, the Tigers weren’t going away and ran off a 17-3 streak of their own to go back out in front and get some breathing room.

Facing a six-point deficit with five minutes to go, Martin took over and scored nine points in a three-minute span to put Arizona State up by one. He led all players on the floor with 33 points.

While Martin brought Arizona State back, Thomas would be the hero.

The junior made two three-point baskets with a minute remaining in the game, the last of which came with three seconds left on the clock that put Arizona State back in front for good.

The Sun Devils (4-2) won’t return to action for a week as they take on the University of San Francisco Dons on Dec. 3 at 9 p.m.