Arizona State men's basketball cruises past Grambling State after tournament championship
Arizona State men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley had reason to worry about his team having a bit of a letdown after its big win over No. 20 Michigan in the title game of the Legends Classic last week in Brooklyn.
If he worried about his team getting a little too high on itself all he had to do was remind his players of an overtime loss to Texas Southern. Or the fact that the next opponent, Grambling State, already registered a win earlier this season over his Pac-12 foe Colorado. But the Sun Devils picked up where they left off in New York, cruising to an 80-49 victory over Grambling State Tuesday night at Desert Financial Arena.
The Sun Devils (5-1) never trailed, scoring the first 12 points of the game. They led 34-17 at the half and were up by as many as 41 in the second half at 75-34 before Hurley cleared the bench and inserted his walk-ons.
ASU shot 49% (25-for-51) from the field while it held the Tigers (2-2) to 26.6 (17-for-64). The visitors finished with a 43-37 advantage on the boards but ASU chalked up 21 assists on 25 field goals.
Despite the strong showing early, ASU still doesn't have its full complement of players. Marcus Bagley missed his fourth straight game with a hip injury sustained when he took a hard fall under the basket in the second game of the season against Northern Arizona while forward Enoch Boakye was out for the third straight game with an illness. Jamiya Neal played for the first time after missing the previous five games with a lower leg injury and got in for 11 minutes, registering three points, two rebounds, three assists and a steal.
Standout performers
It was a balanced attack for ASU with four finishing in double figures Devan Cambridge led the barrage with 16 points on a 7-for-8 performance from the field while D.J. Horne was close behind with 15 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Frankie Collins and Warren Washington each chipped in with 11 points. Collins also dished out a team-high seven assists and had six rebounds while Washington also had seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Top plays
With 58 seconds left and ASU holding a 32-17 lead, Desmond Cambridge snagged a defensive rebound and threw an outlet pass to Frankie Collins who then tossed it on to Devan Cambridge who went in for an uncontested dunk that proved to be the last bucket of the half for either team.
In the second half Devan Cambridge took a backdoor pass from Neal and dunked it home for a 47-27 lead with 12:14 left.
The top player for Grambling was Cameron Christon with nine points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
They said it
"On the heels of the trip to New York, this was a game that concerned me, just making sure the guys were grounded and very emotional wins in the Barclays Center, especially the Michigan game, winning a championship and then traveling back across the country. A couple of the teams we beat struggled in their very next game. I thought our defense again was really really strong, got to clean up the rebounding a little bit." - ASU coach Bobby Hurley
"It was a conversation, we said we can't be comfortable. That win is over with, got to keep pushing forward, can't take our opponent for granted. You see we lost to Texas Southern so we just kept applying pressure. We're playing together now, feeling everybody out. It was fun. that's what happens when you play together," - Devan Cambridge, on coming back after tournament wins.
"Guys sharing the sugar. It's fun to see when everyone is out there smiling so I feel like that's what we've been emphasizing. You know everybody plays as a team If everyone does that, everybody will eat." - D.J. Horne on the team's 21 assists.
Up Next
The Sun Devils will host Alcorn State at 3 p.m. at Desert Financial Arena on Sunday. The Braves (3-1) lost to UTEP 73-61 on Tuesday. They were 17-17 overall last season but 14-4 in the SWAC which included a conference tournament runner-up finish.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State men's basketball team steamrolls over Grambling State
