Senior forward Shaquielle McKissic drives to the basket against Arizona, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils defeated the Wildcats 81-78. (Ben Moffat/The State Press)Coming off of an emotional win last weekend against Arizona, the ASU men's basketball team hoped for the momentum to carry over to its road trip to the Pacific Northwest. A big game from an unlikely source sent ASU back to Earth, however.
The Sun Devils (12-12, 4-7 Pac-12) fell to Washington State (11-13, 5-7 Pac-12) 74-71 Friday night in Pullman.
WSU senior guard Dexter Kernich-Drew set a career high in scoring with 27 points in their win.
The Sun Devils were led in the first half by an efficient performance by freshman guard Tra Holder. He continued his improved play with 14 points, including eight in the first half..
ASU suffered a major loss early as senior guard Bo Barnes had to exit with a right ankle injury. His loss impacted ASU's 3-point shooting, as the team made just five shots on 21 attempts.
Despite Barnes' injury, the Sun Devils led by five points at halftime behind a staggered scoring effort where no player scored more than eight points and three scored six.
In the second half, however, Washington State grabbed control of the game. Kernich-Drew scored 14 points in the latter stanza to lead.
The Cougars held a lead as large as nine points with less than five minutes left in the game, but the Sun Devils were not done at that point.
Junior guard Gerry Blakes carried the team in the second half, scoring 18 of his 24 points after the halftime break and almost single-handedly brought the Sun Devils all the way beck after trailing towards the end.
Thanks to Blakes, ASU was down two points with about a minute left in the game, but Kernich-Drew hit a long 3-pointer over junior forward Eric Jacobsen to seemingly ice the game.
Free throws later, the Cougars walked away with a win and the Sun Devils will have to regroup in an attempt to split their weekend road trip.
ASU will try to rebound Sunday when the team travels to Seattle to play Washington.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or on Twitter @Tonis_The_Tiger.
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