Arizona State got off to a hot start on offense and built a 19-point halftime lead, then cruised the rest of the way to an 86-70 win over Oklahoma on Saturday night in the second game of the Jerry Colangelo Classic in Phoenix at the home of the NBA’s Suns.
Moe Odum led the Sun Devils (7-2) with 17 points and Anthony “Pig” Johnson added 16, despite leaving the game briefly and limping to the locker room in the first half.
Arizona State made 13 of 24 3-point attempts, blocked seven shots and led for all but 1 minute, 38 seconds of the game.
Oklahoma (6-3) got 12 points in nine minutes of playing time for Kuol Atak, who made four 3-pointers, and 11 points each from Tae Davis and Xzayvier Brown in the Sooners’ loss.
The game began with Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley taking all five starters out of the game after 90 seconds, flustered about two offensive rebounds and a defensive foul on the same Oklahoma possession.
Arizona State responded with an 18-0 run to take control of the game. The Sun Devils made 16 of 29 first-half shots, including 7 of 10 3-pointers.
The Sun Devils built a 25-point lead, their largest of the game, on the first two possessions of the second half, with 3-pointers from Andrija Grbovic. A three-quarter-court heave at the halftime buzzer from Bryce Ford would have had Arizona State up 22 at the half, but after further review, the basket was disallowed.
When Odum fed Johnson in the open court for a fast-break dunk, the Sun Devils went ahead 61-40 with 14:09 to play.
Oklahoma could never get close, but the Sooners did cut the lead to 70-52 with 9:48 to play on a 3-pointer from Atak.
Atak made another to make it a 15-point game, but Odum hit another 3 to build the lead back to 18 at the 7:29 mark. The Sooners’ four-game winning streak came to an end.
–Field Level Media
