Arizona State basketball tops Vanderbilt behind Alonzo Gaffney’s career night
Nov 24, 2023, 8:37 PM
Head coach Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils reacts in the second half of a semifinal game of the Pac-12 basketball tournament against the Arizona Wildcats at T-Mobile Arena on March 10, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils 78-59. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Alonzo Gaffney scored 19 points and Jose Perez scored 15 points and Arizona State beat Vanderbilt 82-67 on Friday night in the third-place game of the Vegas Showdown.
Jamiya Neal scored 14 points and Frankie Collins 12 for the Sun Devils (3-2) who shot 51.8% (29 of 56) including 45.5% (10 of 22) from 3-point range.
Evan Taylor scored 25 points — one shy of his career high — Tyrin Lawrence scored 15 and Ven-Allen Lubin 11 for Vanderbilt (3-3).
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The Sun Devils rebounded from their 77-49 defeat against BYU that was marred by a fight with 33.8 seconds left, leading to the ejections of BYU’s Atiki Ally Atiki and Noah Waterman who left the bench when Atiki and ASU’s Akil Watson became entangled after the two fell to the floor attempting to rebound a missed shot.
On Friday, Gaffney’s 3-pointer with 13:49 remaining before halftime put the Sun Devils up 13-11 and they led the remainder. Jason Rivera-Torres’ layup brought the Commodores within 21-20 with 9:17 before intermission, but Arizona State proceeded to outscore Vanderbilt 23-9 and led 44-29 at halftime.
Arizona State maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
Vanderbilt hosts Boston College on Nov. 29. Arizona State hosts Sam Houston also on Nov. 29.
