The Arizona State men’s basketball team battled back late, but lost to Southern Mississippi, 64-61, in a last second defeat at Wells Fargo Arena.
In his first game as a Golden Eagle, senior guard Darnell Dodson drained a three-pointer at the buzzer. The transfer from Kentucky was reinstated to the team Friday following a guilty plea to grand larceny last spring. He led the game with 17 points in 15 minutes off the bench.
“It was great to see (Dodson) out there tonight have the game that he had,” Golden Eagles coach Larry Eustachy said. “He had only practiced with our team once prior (to) today and I just hope he can continue to keep it going like that the rest of the way.”
Down 54-43 with 4:50 left, the Sun Devils (4-7) outscored the Golden Eagles 18-7, including three consecutive three-pointers in 24 seconds. Sophomore guard Keala King sunk two free throws with five seconds left to tie the game at 61 before Dodson’s game winning shot.
“I thought our guys showed great character coming back down 11,” coach Herb Sendek said. “They battled, but once again we’re on the short side of a tough three-point shot at the end of the game.”
Character wasn’t exactly on display from both teams midway through the second half as junior forward Ruslan Pateev and Southern Miss senior forward Torye Pelham each received flagrant two fouls and were ejected with 12:14 left in the game.
Southern Miss made a three-pointer off two offensive rebounds. After the possession, Pelham appeared to have thrown a jab at Pateev’s face. In retaliation, Pateev ran after Pelham, grabbed his arm and threw a punch to the back of his head. Play stopped as referees separated both teams. Southern Miss senior forward Ahyaro Phillips was also ejected for leaving the bench.
“That can’t happen,” junior wing Trent Lockett said. “Even if they throw a cheap shot, we can’t let that escalate to that point. Ruslan apologized to the team, he said it won’t happen again if he’s ever in the same situation.”
The altercation occurred just as the Golden Eagles tied the game at 34. ASU had a strong first half and led 30-21 at halftime. The Sun Devils held Southern Miss to 23.3 percent and 1-for-10 from three-point range in the first half.
The Golden Eagles’ shooting percentage didn’t get much better at the end of the game, 33.9 percent, but the Sun Devils couldn’t match up with their physical play in the paint. Eighteen of their 35 rebounds came on the offensive glass. Despite his ejection, Pelham had nine of his 10 rebounds on the offensive end.
“We’ve got to be much tougher on the boards,” Sendek said. “We’ve got to be much more tenacious. We can’t have anybody leaking out, we’ve got to gang rebound. We’ve got to pursue the ball with tenacity.”
King led ASU with 16 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and one turnover. He had two key steals in the last five minutes, mainly due to an effective full-court press. Freshman forward Jonathan Gilling netted eight points and four assists off the bench. He played a very physical game defensively. He took a charge and held his ground in the post for the majority of the game.
“I think that was a real break through in just his physicality,” Sendek said. “The style of basketball here is a little different than he’s used to (in Denmark) and you can see his talent. He’s a big kid and he shoots the ball well.”
ASU will try to bounce back from back-to-back last second defeats Wednesday when they face Fresno State at Wells Fargo Arena.
"What a great opportunity for our team,” Sendek said. “Two bone-crushing losses in a span of three days. Guys crying in the locker room, guys crest-fallen, you lose your starting center and it’s just us.”
Reach the reporter at master.tesfatsion@asu.edu
