By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, March 3, 2016

photo credit: bigstory.ap.org ASU’s Obinna Oleka led the Sun Devils in rebounding with nine boards in the Sun Devils win over Stanford Thursday night

TEMPE, Arizona – Arizona State used torrid runs at the end of the first half and the start of the second half to hold off stubborn Stanford 74-64 Thursday in Pac-12 men’s basketball at Wells Fargo Arena.

The loss spoiled a homecoming of sorts for Cardinal sophomores Dorian Pickens (Phoenix Pinnacle) and Michael Humphrey (Phoenix Sunnyslope), who faced each other several times here in high school.

Pickens led the Cardinal with 19 points off the bench – including four 3-pointers –
followed by 15 from Humphrey and 14 from Rosco Allen. Cameron Walker and Marcus Allen combined for seven assists, and Rosco Allen was the top Stanford rebounder with nine.

“I’m not real big on individual accomplishments. I’m more of a team guy,” Pickens said. “I’ll take a win over a great individual performance.”

Obinna Oleka led the Sun Devils with nine boards, as ASU held the rebounding advantage 38-27, including a 15-5 edge on the offensive glass. The Sun Devils had five double-figure scorers, led by 16 from Savon Goodman. Eric Jacobson scored 13 for Arizona State, followed by Tra Holder with 11 and 10 points each by Oleka and Willie Atwood.

“(ASU) was just the hardest working team tonight,” Pickens said. “They crashed the boards all night, even though we had size advantage on them.”

Thanks to a late flurry, Stanford wound up outshooting the Devils 47 percent (24 of 51) to 43 percent (23 of 54). ASU was 20 of 30 at the free throw line, compared to 6 of 11 for the Cardinal.

Stanford (15-13 overall, 8-9 Pac-12) was leading by five points with 11:17 left in the first half. Arizona State then forged a 2 ½-minute 13-5 run, capped by an Atwood 3-pointer that put the Sun Devils ahead to stay at 19-16 with 8:00 remaining in the half.

ASU followed with a 12-1 run that put them up 37-22f at the break.

“That was a tough stretch for us,” Cardinal Coach Johnny Dawkins said. “Give (ASU) credit. They made some plays, turned us over a few times, and got some easy baskets. That got them some momentum.
“We had 10 turnovers in the first half and that’s very uncharacteristic for us. We’re very disappointed in how we didn’t take care of the basketball.”

After the Cardinal opened the second half with a field goal and two free throws by Rosco Allen, the Sun Devils (15-15 overall, 5-12 Pac-12) built it biggest lead of the game over the next six minutes. On a 14-8 run that started with an Atwood 3-pointer and ended with two free throws by Holder, ASU led 53-32 with 13:11 to play.

“We turned the ball over a couple of times and gave (ASU) a lot of momentum going into the halftime break, and that was on us,” Pickens said.

But Stanford found its second wind. With two minutes remaining, Humphrey drained a 3-pointer, Marcus Allen followed with a dunk, and Rosco Allen’s 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining capped an 18-6 run and pulled the Cardinal to within 69-61.

“At that time, we were trying to attack as fast as we can,” Dawkins said. “We know the clock is against us, so we tried to stay aggressive, take the open looks when we had them, keep attacking and try to make plays.”

“We’ve come back from 20-point deficits before,” Pickens said. “I have to credit them (ASU), they played terrific and we have to bounce back in the next game.”

Arizona State’s Kodi Justice, Atwood and Holder combined to convert 5 of 6 free throws to increase the Sun Devils’ lead to 74-61 with 1:04 left. Malcolm Allen’s 3-pointer closed out the scoring for Stanford with :20 to play.

“You always wish you had more time, but (ASU) played well,” Dawkins said. “You give them credit. They outplayed us and it’s something we have to learn from and get better.”

Stanford completes its desert road trip on Saturday, traveling to Tucson to face Arizona to conclude the regular season. Then, it’s on to the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas.

“Anything can happen in the tournament,” Pickens said. “We have a lot of great teams in this league, one through 12. Everybody goes in 0-0, and I think there will be a lot of close games and hopefully, we can be on top of that.”

Dawkins added, “The conference is so deep and everyone is good. I think it’s going to be a heck of a tournament and it’s anyone’s to win. That’s exciting. That’s the sign of a great conference.”

In the second half, Stanford was 3 of 7 at the free throw line while facing the notorious Curtain of Distraction. But the Cardinal’s problems started much earlier.

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