The ASU men’s basketball team reeled off its sixth straight win Thursday defeating Oregon State on the road 72-62.
The Sun Devils (14-2, 3-0 Pac-12) had four of its five starters in double figures, including redshirt freshman point guard Jahii Carson and senior wing Carrick Felix. Carson finished with 20 points and four assists, while Felix scored 18 points and grabbed 14 rebounds.
Carson and Felix seemed to always find a way to score a big bucket against the Beavers (10-5, 0-2 Pac-12). It took the Sun Devils some time to get an offensive flow during the game, but Carson was able to keep them in the game with his speed. He scored six of the team’s first 13 points to tie the game with 13:45 left in the first half.
The offense stalled midway through the first half as the Sun Devils went nearly six minutes without a field goal. OSU went on an 11-1 run with junior forward Devon Collier leading the way. He scored six of his team high 18 points during that stretch. Collier typically comes off the bench but started in place of sophomore forward Eric Moreland, who was suspended indefinitely before Thursday’s contest.
Moreland averages 10.8 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks a game. He’s second in the conference in rebounds and blocks.
ASU finished the half strong, outscoring OSU 18-2 in the final five minutes. The Sun Devils were able to dominate the glass without Moreland’s presence, which played a big role in their last half push.
OSU chipped away at ASU’s lead in the second half. The Sun Devils went through another dry spell on offense where they were unable to score a point in nearly six minutes. The Beavers trimmed down a 13-point deficit to four with 6:59 remaining.
When it seemed as if OSU would finally close the gap, Felix or Carson came up with a bucket. They had four consecutive layups for ASU to stretch lead back out to 63-55 with 2:15 left. Junior center Jordan Bachynski came in as the closer and scored seven of his 10 points in the final two minutes to seal the win. Bachynski also had nine rebounds in the contest.
With the win, ASU is now 3-0 in conference play. It looks to match the second best conference start in school history when it faces Oregon Sunday. Three previous teams started conference play 4-0, with just the 1979-80 team topping that mark with a 5-0 start. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network.
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
