A last second prayer couldn’t save the Arizona State men’s basketball team from falling victim to a mid-major school.
Northern Arizona University defeated ASU (4-6) 69-68 Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Junior guard Stallon Saldivar drilled his sixth three-pointer with .8 seconds left to give the Lumberjacks the lead.
Similar to last Saturday’s buzzer-beater to defeat North Dakota State, 60-57, sophomore wing Chanse Creekmur threw a full court pass with hopes it would land in the hands of one of his teammates, but it clanked off a strobe light attached to the scoreboard.
“There’s nobody who likes the place that we’re in right now,” coach Herb Sendek said. “This is not a good feeling at all. We have to play better, we just have to play better. I don’t know if anything strategically, we just got to play better.”
The Sun Devils once again missed opportunities to put a team away late on the free throw line as they shot 46.2 percent from the charity stripe. Until the 9:27 mark in the second half, sophomore guard Keala King was the only player to attempt a free throw. He went 2-for-7.
Junior wing Trent Lockett went 2-for-4 from the line. One of those missed attempts occurred with 18 seconds left, right before Saldivar’s game winning shot.
“We fell apart in certain situations,” Creekmur said. “We just couldn’t put it together for some reason. We seem to always do that.”
ASU shot 56.3 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range, yet still lost. They never carried a double-digit lead over an NAU (4-7) team that was a winless team on the road entering this contest.
The Lumberjacks played four guards and don’t have a player taller than 6-foot-8 on their roster, yet equaled ASU’s 27 rebounds.
The Sun Devils tried to expose NAU's frontcourt during the opening minutes with post entry plays. Junior forward Ruslan Pateev scored four points in the first four minutes. He wouldn’t score again.
“It was a major point of emphasis going into the game,” Sendek said. “It was something we really, really worked on all week, but we didn’t get it inside very much.”
Creekmur gave ASU a spark in the first half drilling three consecutive three-pointers. He’d finished the game with 15 points, converting 5-for-8 from behind the arc.
“The last couple of games he really hasn’t been (in a slump),” Sendek said. “He’s really found his stroke and can shoot the ball very well.”
King was the only consistent producer in the second half as he scored nine of his 16 points. He was able to take advantage of one-on-one opportunities against Saldivar. King has improved at his ability to kick the ball out to his teammates when he drives into the lane and added a career-high seven assists to his stat line, but had five turnovers in the contest.
Saldivar one-upped him in every way though. He led the game with 24 points and nine assists. His ability to penetrate into the lane was just as effective as his jumper. He would use a pump-fake, causing ASU defenders to leave their feet in anticipation for the three-point shot and create a 5-on-4 situation. Freshman guard James Douglas contributed 18 points and went 3-for-5 from downtown.
“We had a difficult time defending them,” Sendek said. “They just completely held the game within the palm of their hands, dominated the game much like the way Burton did when we played Nevada.”
The road won’t get easier from here. ASU plays an 8-2 Southern Miss team Monday and Fresno State on Wednesday. ASU will start Pac-12 play at Arizona on New Year’s Eve.
“I’m pretty concerned,” Creekmur said. “We got to fix a lot of things. Some guys got to find it in their heart and as a team we’ve got to pull together otherwise we’re going to be in trouble.”
Reach the reporter at master.tesfatsion@asu.edu
