(Salt Lake, UT) The Sun Devil men’s basketball team fell behind 16-7 early at Utah and trailed by two at the half, but got 21 points from Jose Perez and 17 from Jamiya Neal to outlast Utah 85-77 behind 10-of-22 (.455) three-point shooting to notch its fifth straight win against the Utes.
ASU has now won four of the past five in Salt Lake City. Adam Milleradded 16 points while Frankie Collins notched 13 points and three steals to run his season mark to 72, just four shy of Fat Lever’s school record. ASU topped a Utah team that was 12-0 at home entering its game Thursday against Arizona, with wins over BYU, Washington State, UCLA and Oregon. ASU’s 85 points was a season high.
ASU out-rebounded the taller Utes 42-37 and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and got 15 second-chance points. ASU held the Utes to just 4-of-17 (.235) from the three-point stripe. It marked just the third time ASU out rebounded its opponent (Texas Southern and Vanderbilt).
QUOTING COACH HURLEY
“There was good ball movement and we were shooting with confidence. Multiple guys got it going so the defense couldn’t focus on one player. We had good balance in how we played half-court offense tonight. To beat NCAA Tournament caliber teams on the road you need multiple guys playing well on both ends. We got great contributions from everybody. It was good to see them bounce back.”
QUOTING JOSE PEREZ
“This is the right time to get hot. Our goal is to put some wins together and be playing our best at the end of the year. I was just taking what the defense gives me and being able to make shots. I like the ball in the clutch and being able to make clutch plays. My mindset is trying to get to my spots at all times. I had to get used to the rims and see where to put the ball. Once I found the touch in the second half I feel like it was game over.”
NEVER A BAD THING WHEN YOU CAN TYPE FAT LEVER
Frankie Collins is closing in on the Sun Devil season steals mark set by Fat Lever with 76 in 1981-82, as he has 72 through 24 games (3.0 per game). There are 16 individual Sun Devil season record categories, and only Tony Cerkvenik’s 415 rebounds in 1961 and Mark Landsberger’s 14.4 rebounds per game mark in 1977 happened prior to Lever’s 76 steals in 1981-82.
Press Releases courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Connor Smith
