Ty Abbott could only play limited minutes on Monday night, but all the ASU men’s basketball team needed was one key stretch from him in his first game since having knee surgery.

The Sun Devils were struggling with turnovers and missed shots that allowed Texas State to hang around early in their opening game of the preseason NIT.

That is, until ASU coach Herb Sendek turned to Abbott.

The junior guard sparked a 16-2 run to end the first half with a pair of 3-pointers and had eight of his 11 points during the stretch that took the Sun Devils from down one point to up 13 at the break en route to an 84-62 win in their opening game of the Preseason NIT.

“I thought that was a really hard-fought win for our team,” Sendek said. “Texas State has a lot of toughness and really took it to us on the offensive glass.”

The Bobcats (1-1) jumped out to an early 8-4 lead behind a pair of 3-pointers from senior forward John Rybak. The Sun Devils (2-0) answered with a 15-3 run to take a 19-11 lead, sparked by threes from juniors Jamelle McMillian and Rihards Kuksiks.

But the Bobcats wouldn’t go away, mostly thanks to help from the Sun Devils. After their 15-3 run, ASU turned the ball over five straight times and six times total in a 9-0 Texas State run that gave them the lead at 20-19.

A 3-pointer from McMillian broke the Bobcats’ run, but Texas State led 24-23 when Sendek turned to Abbott with 5:59 to play in the first half.

It wasn’t all Abbott during the spurt, however. He had a lot help from freshman guard Trent Lockett.

Lockett started the run with a layup, and Abbott’s 3-pointer with 3:29 left in the half increased ASU’s lead to 34-24.

Lockett then brought the fans to their feet with a monstrous put-back dunk before Abbott capped the run with another trey to give ASU a 15-point lead.

“We got a big lift from Ty,” Sendek said. “He is at the very beginning stages — he has only practiced for two days. He gave us a huge lift in the first half and energized our team.”

In all, the Bobcats went over five minutes without scoring before junior forward Tony Bishop broke the run with a jumper that made the score 39-26 at half.

After the break, ASU came out with the fire and intensity fans saw on Friday night, and the Sun Devils pulled away from the Bobcats with an 8-2 run to start the half that got started with a breakaway layup by Lockett off a steal.

“To start the second half, Trent really got us going with his defense,” Sendek said. “We were pretty active. We had 48 deflections, [and] Trent had nine of those.”

The Sun Devils never led by less than 15 in the second half.

ASU was led in scoring by senior guard Derek Glasser with 20 points. Senior center Eric Boateng fell just one rebound short of his first career double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.

But the story of the day was the improved play of Lockett from the opener, as the freshman had 17 points off the bench.

“The first game was the first game, and I was just getting the jitters out,” Lockett said. “It is just one game out of my career; I just have to build from here. I am just trying to go out there and make plays and help the team win.”

Lockett also added seven rebounds, and Sendek said Lockett crashes the boards as well as any player he’s had at ASU.

“He is a tremendous young player,” Sendek said. “He is playing multiple spots for us, and he picks things up so quickly. We are really excited about him. We haven’t had a presence like that on the offensive glass from our perimeter.”

Junior forward Cameron Johnson was the only Bobcat in double figures with 14 points.

After the game, Sendek was concerned with two areas. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Sun Devils 39-35, and ASU turned the ball over 20 times.

“The most glaring things tonight was defensive rebounding,” Sendek said. “That is going to be a challenge for our basketball team, and we turned it over way too much. Texas State did a tremendous job of harassing us.”

The win sets up a matchup with TCU tomorrow night in the championship game of the west bracket of the Preseason NIT.

TCU is coached by Jim Christian, who served as an assistant coach to Herb Sendek at Miami (OH).

The Horned Frogs advanced to the championship by cruising to an 83-65 victory over Cal State Northridge earlier in the evening. The Horned Frogs connected on 12 of their 3-pointers and were led by senior forward Edvinas Ruzgas, who had 24 points and five threes.

“It isn’t so much playing a former assistant, but we are playing a really good team,” Sendek said. “I was extremely impressed [with them]. They are going to be a hard guard for us.”

The championship game will tip off at 9:30 tomorrow night, while the consolation game between CS Northridge and Texas State is at 7 p.m.