MIAMI – Sixth-seeded ASU was able to overcome poor foul shooting in the second half to beat No. 11 seed Temple 66-57 in Miami on Friday.

The Sun Devils will face the South region No. 3 seed, Syracuse, in the second round on Sunday.

It took ASU sophomore guard James Harden more than 35 minutes to score, but he finally hit a 3-pointer with 4:44 left to give ASU a 56-49 lead.

Temple’s Ryan Brooks did a great job of defending Harden throughout the game. The Pac-10 Player of the Year finished with nine points on 1-of-8 shooting.

Temple senior guard Dionte Christmas scored a game-high 29 points.

The Sun Devils never trailed in the game, but didn’t have their best effort either.
Temple cut its deficit down to 52-49 with nearly seven minutes left, but wouldn’t get any closer than that.

ASU almost lost control in the second half but held on to win.

Sun Devil junior guard Derek Glasser had a phenomenal first half, scoring 17 points. He went 6-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from behind the arc. Coming into the game, Glasser’s career high was 18 points.

Meanwhile, Harden was nearly a no-show on offense. He went 0-for-3 from the field and managed to knock down just two free throws.

The Sun Devils jumped out to a 9-2 lead early before Temple worked itself back into the fold over the next few minutes.

ASU was the first team to take control of the game though, as it rattled off an 8-0 run midway through the first period.

Then the Sun Devils went ice cold, going scoreless for a six-plus minute span. By the time Christmas knocked down two free throws with 1:55 left in the half, the Owls had cut the deficit to 29-26.

But Glasser nailed two 3-pointers before the break to give his team a 35-29 halftime lead.

Check back for player and coach reactions.

Reach the reporter at alex.espinzoa@asu.edu