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ASU men's basketball drops 59-56 heartbreaker to Oregon

Senior forward Shaquille McKissic dunks the ball in a game against Pepperdine, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. After trailing the entire first half, the Sun Devils came from behind and defeated the Waves 81-74. (Photo by Ben Moffat)
Senior forward Shaquille McKissic dunks the ball in a game against Pepperdine, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. After trailing the entire first half, the Sun Devils came from behind and defeated the Waves 81-74. (Photo by Ben Moffat)

Senior forward Shaquille McKissic dunks the ball in a game against Pepperdine, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils fell against the Oregon Ducks 59-56 on Saturday in Eugene.(Photo by Ben Moffat) Senior forward Shaquille McKissic dunks the ball in a game against Pepperdine, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils fell against the Oregon Ducks 59-56 on Saturday in Eugene. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)

It was a dogfight away from the desert between the Devils and Ducks on Saturday.

ASU (8-8, 0-3 Pac-12) flexed its defensive muscle throughout the game against an Oregon (12-4, 2-1 Pac-12) team that, much like Marcus Mariota and Ducks football, loves to set the pace and go fast.

Despite the strong defensive effort, ASU fell to the Ducks 59-56 in Eugene.

"I was proud of our guys today," ASU coach Herb Sendek said. "I thought they really played the right way and put themselves in a position to win."

Up until a late spurt in the first half in which redshirt senior guard Joseph Young nailed a 3-pointer and freshman forward Jordan Bell threw down a thunderous dunk, ASU was in control of the game and its pace.

From there the pace was just what Oregon wanted it to be –– back and forth, with plenty of up and down action. However, this didn't stop the Sun Devils from fighting until the bitter end. Senior forward Shaquielle McKissic contributed 18 points, but came up empty missing two free throws facing a two point deficit, and again later on a potential game tying three-pointer that fell short as time expired.

A phenomenal defensive effort by the Sun Devils was negated by a low shooting percentage and failure to convert a multitude of chances at the free throw line, where it shot a meager 58 percent. While Sendek hopes to see an effort of this magnitude from his team going forward on defense, "and maybe even better," the inability to cash in at the charity stripe proved devastating for his team.

"The single biggest factor that we're not celebrating right now is our free throw shooting," Sendek said. "In a close game of this nature, that was critical."

Young, a man that Oregon fans call "Mighty", dropped 16 points and Bell chipped in eight points of his own to go along with a school-record eight blocks. Bell was an absolute force down low, swatting away every ball that came within his radius. In the process, Bell did more than tie the single game record for blocks –– he now holds the Oregon record for blocks in an entire season. It's worth noting that Oregon has 15 of its 31 regular season games remaining, and that number will definitely continue to climb.

Additionally, it was a battle of the freshman point guards with local ties as Oregon's Casey Benson, a native of Tempe matched up with Kodi Justice for ASU, a fellow Arizonan (Mesa). Neither made a significant impact on the game for their respective teams, but the lineup change is notable and marked an important decision by Sendek.

"Tra (Holder) and Kodi (Justice) will be our point guards moving forward," Sendek said. "and hopefully we can settle into a rotation."

Once again there is a lesson to be learned from a loss on the road for Sendek's Sun Devils. If it can match or improve upon its defensive effort from tonight, while taking care of the little things such as reducing turnovers and knocking down free throws, then it's all up from here for ASU.

"The way our guys prepared, the way we played tonight, we took a huge step forward," Sendek said.

ASU will next face No. 9 Utah at 8 p.m. on Jan. 15 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.

Reach the reporter at rclarke6@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @RClarkeASU

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