Arizona State overcomes Oregon State on road for 15th win of season

CORVALLIS, Oregon — Biggest surprise of the Pac-12 men's season thus far? Last week most would have said Utah. Well it just might be coach Bobby Hurley's Arizona State Sun Devils.

The squad was coming off a lackluster 14-17 showing a year ago so not surprisingly the Sun Devils were pegged seventh in the conference in the preseason Pac-12 coaches poll released in November. While there is still the balance of Pac-12 play to come, the Sun Devils have sent notice they are a team to reckon with.

The Sun Devils turned back upset-minded Oregon State 74-69 Saturday afternoon at Gill Coliseum to improve to 15-3 overall and 6-1 in conference play. They sit second right behind No. 7 UCLA (15-2, 6-0), whom they will face on Thursday at Desert Financial Arena.

It is the best start in conference play for ASU since the 1980-1981 season.

The victory also continued another pattern as the Sun Devils have had a knack for winning the close ones. They are 7-1 in games decided by two possessions or less, with four of those victories being conference games.

Hurley's Sun Devils got off to a good start in Pac-12 play but also had the good fortune of playing four of their first five games at Desert Financial Arena. Road sweeps are always difficult and this weekend's trip through Oregon marked the first two-game road set for ASU.

The weekend got off to a good start as the Sun Devils overpowered Oregon 90-73. The Saturday half looked like the easier part of the battle as the Beavers came into play having won just six conference games, the lone win being a one-point win over Washington.

This one went down to the wire and wasn't secured until sophomore guard Frankie Collins got a steal in the closing seconds with the Sun Devils up by three points.

Hurley wasn't surprised his team was pushed by an opponent several games under .500.

"Any time you go on the road in conference games you're going to find yourself in a dogfight," Hurley said. "I'm not surprised. The way I saw Oregon State play in the second half against Arizona (on Thursday). Young players woke up and I think (Oregon State coach) Wayne (Tinkle) has done a great job with who he's brought in. He's got guys he can build with so we're happy to get out of here with a win."

Oregon State started strong and led by as many as 16 points, a 34-18 advantage with five minutes left in the half. The Sun Devils used their trademark defense in getting some stops that enabled them to cut into the deficit and they went into the locker room only down 42-39 after a 3-pointer by D.J. Horne.

Hurley felt fortunate his team was in striking distance, given that his opponent shot 55.2% (16-for-29) in the first 20 minutes.

"I was walking down to the locker room with (assistant) Mickey Mitchell and I said 'How are we down three?' They were hitting shots, hit some late clock, contested shots. They had an advantage over us in the paint. So we had to overcome a lot. I thought our pressure at the end of the half enabled us to get back in it and it was kind of the difference. We weren't making them miss but we were creating some turnovers," he said.

ASU drew even for the first time on a putback by Devan Cambridge with 15:51 left that evened it at 49. The visitors took their first lead on the next possession on a pair of free throws by true freshman Austin Nunez.

ASU led by eight at 68-60 with 2:37 to go but the Beavers came back getting within one at 68-67 on a 3-pointer by Jordan Pope with 1:44 to go.

ASU also led 71-67 after a pair of free throws by Nunez with 22 seconds left. But no, the Beavers (7-11, 1-6) didn't go away with two free throws by Dexter Akanno with 15.6 seconds to go again making it a two-point game.

It was 72-69 ASU when Collins stole the ball from Pope, preventing the Beavers from getting another shot off. A foul on the play resulted in two more ASU free throws, those by Alonzo Gaffney.

The clutch play down the stretch enabled the Sun Devils to register their 37th halftime comeback in the Hurley tenure. Of those comeback wins, 18 have been on the road and 18 have come in conference play.

"I think we go with the mindset that we can control if we play hard," said Collins, who had 12 -points, two steals and two assists. "You can't always control if the ball goes in the hoop. If we play hard on defense and get stops we think we have the chance to win any game."

ASU shot 49% (24-for-49). That included an 8-for-18 from deep. Desmond Cambridge led all scorers with 21 while brother Devan netted 13 and Collins 12. The Sun Devils had nine blocked shots with true freshman Duke Brennan getting three in his 10 minutes. ASU had seven steals with Collins and Nunez each snagging two.

ASU can now fully focus on the Bruins, an opponent with which it has had some memorable games. One of those came last season when ASU was struggling but registered an 87-84 victory that took triple overtime.

UCLA stayed atop the Pac-12 standings with a 68-54 win over Colorado at Pauley Pavilion Saturday.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State overcomes Oregon State on road for 15th win of season