On a night when the ASU men’s basketball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm and was dominated on the boards by a much smaller Arkansas-Pine Bluff team, the Sun Devils used their lockdown zone defense to find a way to get by the Golden Lions 74-57 on Monday night at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Golden Lions, whose tallest starter is 6 feet 8 inches, often played a four-guard lineup and outrebounded ASU 39-25 and 16-5 on the offensive glass.

ASU coach Herb Sendek was not pleased with the lack of enthusiasm the team showed coming off its trip to New York.

“I didn’t think there was any energy from our players or in the building,” Sendek said. “We played with too much lethargy.”

Junior guard Jamelle McMillan blamed part of the lack of energy on young guys not used to the schedule.

“We have young guys who aren’t used to the schedule and are a little beat up, but it is part of the season,” McMillan said. “We just have to get better. We have a good team in here on Thursday.”

UAPB (0-5) took advantage of a sluggish start from ASU and opened with a 4-3 lead before going cold.

The Golden Lions went 7:31 without scoring, and the Sun Devils rattled off a 13-0 run during that stretch to lead 17-5 with 10:41 to play in the first half.

During the 13-0 run, all five Sun Devils on the floor scored, led by senior center Eric Boateng’s four points.

Turnovers and rebounding kept the Golden Lions close in the first half, but an 8-3 run by ASU gave the Sun Devils a 33-21 lead at the break.

ASU junior forward Rihards Kuksiks had four points during the late first-half run and capped it with a lob pass to freshman guard Trent Lockett for a dunk.

The Golden Lions outrebounded ASU 22-11 in the first half, and UAPB had 11 offensive rebounds.

UAPB came out of the locker room and scored the first four points of the second half, but ASU took control of the game with a 27-8 run to go up 57-33 with 7:55 to play.

ASU (6-1) led by as many as 25 in the second half before a barrage of 3-pointers brought the final margin to 17.

Boateng led the Sun Devils with 17 points and seven rebounds. McMillian added 12 points on five-of-seven shooting, and Kuksiks had 10 points.

Sophomore guard Savalance Townsend led UAPB with 24 points on six 3-pointers. Senior forward Tyree Glass added 11 points.

The Sun Devils will welcome Baylor into Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday night at 8:30 for the Pac-10/Big 12 Hardwood Series.

With a better opponent coming up, Sendek said the team needs to clean up the boards.

“They are a very good rebounding team,” Sendek said of the Golden Lions. “No matter what our effort is, rebounding is going to be our signature. I don’t think this is at the top of the list of the strengths of our team.”

McMillan agreed rebounding has to improve for ASU to have success going forward.

“That has been our deal this year; we have to improve,” McMillan said. “Positions one through five, we can’t rely on just [Boateng]. It is something we have to clean up.”

Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu