Remy Martin’s scoring outburst paces ASU in win over Washington

TEMPE — Remy Martin is a bad man.

The senior guard made his impact felt from the tip, leading the way with 31 points in Arizona State’s 80-72 victory over the Washington Huskies.

Martin tied a season high with scoring effort and has scored a combined 57 points against the Huskies this week.

With the win, ASU (9-11; 6-8 Pac-12) is now 9-7 when scoring at least 69 points.

Giving the Huskies (4-15; 5-19 Pac-12) little time to settle in, chef Martin turned on the heat in a hurry, scoring 13 of ASU’s first 17 points of the night, while dishing out an assist to hand the Sun Devils an early five-point lead (17-12) with just over 12 minutes left in the half.

The Huskies, however, would survive Martin’s onslaught, using a 6-0 run to their advantage later on in the half to tie things up at 21-21 before eventually taking a 29-25 lead with under five minutes to play before halftime.

But right on cue was Martin, who added a pair of 3-pointers late to close out the first 20 minutes of action. The pair was the first makes of the night from long range for the Sun Devils. ASU had missed all five of its attempts up until that point. At the half, ASU and Washington remained tied at 35.

The two treys gave Martin 19 first-half points on 8-of-13 shooting (61.5%). He added two rebounds and an assist in 19 minutes.

The game continued to be a back-and-forth affair in the second half.

The Sun Devils struck first, quickly garnering a seven-point lead within the first three minutes of action.

Right there to respond were the Huskies, who used a 7-0 run to eventually take the lead before the Sun Devils answered with a 6-0 run of their own behind Martin.

Washington would manufacture one last run, but it was ASU with the bookend finish, closing out the game with an 8-0 run.

While Martin didn’t have the same type of success in the first half, the guard left it all out on the court, dropping 12 second-half points on 50% shooting (4-of-8).

Not to be lost on the evening was the play of senior forward Kimani Lawrence, who put together the most complete game Thursday night.

The senior was the epitome of hustle, registering 21 points, including two big free throws late, and grabbing a career-high 20 boards in the victory. It marks the first time a Sun Devil has had a 20-point, 20-rebound night since Mike Batiste in 1997.

“From our standpoint, I think it goes without saying who the star was tonight,” ASU’s Bobby Hurley said after the game. “Kimani Lawrence just unbelievable work rebounding and scoring it and making his free throws, clutch free throws. Just an outstanding game.

“He was everywhere. He was all over the court. Really proud of him, the way he’s performed when we had all these guys out. He’s taken his game to a different place and it’s really exciting and rewarding as a coach to watch him play at that level.”

Fellow senior Alonzo Verge was also a factor in the win, dishing out a team-high seven assists to go along with 13 points and five rebounds.

The Sun Devils will look to continue their success against the region on Saturday when they take on the Washington State Cougars at 7 p.m.

Catch all the action live on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

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