by Ryan Capeloto, Sun Devil Athletic Communications Student Intern
The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team held off Oregon State 70-67 Thursday night, giving the Beavers their first conference loss (3-1) with ASU moving to 3-2.
Coming into the game with their backs against the wall in conference play, the Sun Devils were mentally locked in from the tip. Five players were in the double figures, and they just so happened to be all five starters.
Zylan Cheatham came away with his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds, four of his points coming in the final minutes off emphatic put back dunks that closed out the win.
Oregon State jumped out to an early lead and its largest of six points for the first 3:40 of the game, they soon yielded the lead back to the Sun Devils and never got it back. The Sun Devils great hustle and effort all over the court helped them to victory. Winning the rebound margin 41-34, scoring 17 second-chance points, and totaling 17 points off the bench, with 12 of those coming from freshman forward Taeshon Cherry who had four three-pointers.
Hurley praised his freshman's play tonight. "Taeshon had four threes and his numbers were good at forty percent overall. Hehad great practices coming into this game and he was very locked in, noted Coach Hurley "He did some other good things, he came in the game and right away got a few rebounds, so a game like this could be a boost for his confidence going forwards."
ASU GAMES OF SIX-POINTS OR LESS IN 2018-19 (5-2)
ASU 70, Oregon State 67 (Jan. 17, 2019)
Princeton 67, ASU 66 (Dec. 29, 2018)
#18 ASU 70, #1 Kansas 66 (Dec. 22, 2018)
#20 ASU 76, @Georgia 74 (Dec. 15, 2018)
#6 Nevada 72, ASU 66 (Dec. 7, 2018 at Los Angeles)
ASU 87, Utah State 82 (Nov. 21, 2018 at Las Vegas)
ASU 72, #15 Mississippi State 67 (Nov. 19, 2018 at Las Vegas)
Cherry had a huge night with his third highest scoring outage of his young career, with all 12 of his points coming from shooting 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, with each shot coming within what seemed like the perfect timing when the Devils needed buckets most.
Oregon State didn't record a field goal in the last 2:44 in the half, helping the Sun Devils to a 31-22 going into the locker room. Hurley's adjustments at halftime kept the Devils rolling. "It was excellent the way we came out of the locker room. We talked about that after Stanford, just not playing well to start the second half and the guys responded very well."
ASU 10-GAME WIN STREAK IN TEMPE OVER OSU
ASU 70, Oregon State 67/Jan. 17, 2019)
ASU 77, Oregon State 75/Jan. 13, 2018
ASU 86, Oregon State 68/Jan. 28, 2016
ASU 73, Oregon State 55/Jan. 28, 2015
ASU 86, Oregon State 82 (OT)/Feb. 6, 2014
ASU 76, Oregon State 66/Jan. 14, 2012
ASU 80, Oregon State 66/Mar. 5, 2011
ASU 56, Oregon State 46/Feb. 11, 2010
ASU 69, Oregon State 38/Jan. 8, 2009
ASU 72, Oregon State 53/Jan. 5, 2008
ASU came out of halftime racing with a 9-0 run, including an and one play and demoralizing dunk from standout freshman Luguentz Dort, and a Romello White offensive board and put back. Its largest lead of the game was at 18 (40-22). Then the Sun Devil offense stalled, as the Beavers 1-3-1 defense wore on the Devils and made a stretch of poor shooting.
"We were up a good amount, we have so much to learn from the film where we get away, how to attack a 1-3-1 when somebody throws it at us," noted Coahc Hurley. "Because eventually, that's slowed us down. "
The Sun Devils shot just 45 percent from the free throw line.
"We just got to dial in and those will come back and hurt us more if we don't focus in and actually sink our free-throws, including myself," noted Remy Martin. "I definitely have to hit free-throws and extend the game, those can come back and hurt us."
ZYLAN CHEATHAM ASU DOUBLE-DOUBLES (7)
13/10 vs. Oregon State (1/17/19)
13/11 vs. #1 Kansas (12/22/18)
10/10 at Georgia (12/15/18)
13/10 vs. #6 Nevada (12/7/18)
14/13/10 vs. Texas Southern (12/1/18)
13/12/9 vs. Omaha (11/28/18)
16/12/6 vs. McNeese State (11/9/18)
The Beavers kept trying to claw there way back into the game through short runs, but the Devils kept answering and finding ways to score. Rob Edwards accounted for eight straight points for the Devils trying to keep the lead in the double digits.
The Sun Devils have what seems a record now of putting themselves in close games like this and letting the opponent back in, Remy Martin wants to change that
"We been through a lot these last couple weeks and just learning from those losses and those wins," noted Martin. "We have a lot to learn from today, but we have to do a better job of closing them out -- period. They're a great team, they hit tough shots but at the end of the day, great teams put their foot on their throat."
The Beavers continued to make runs and pulled the lead down to nine. Within a minute the Devils lead had vanished as Oregon State let out a barrage of three-pointers by guards Ethan Thompson and Zach Reichle, making it 64-61.
In the waning minute of the game senior Zylan Cheatham came up huge with two put back slams at the rim preventing the disaster comeback from Oregon State.
The Beavers wouldn't vanish just yet, Tres Tinkle buried yet another 3-pointer to keep make it a one-point affair. After a long scramble on the Sun Devils inbound Dort came away with the ball and pushed it up the court into safety and sending Rob Edwards to the free throw line to bury them both with ice in his veins, just like he did with the Kansas game in the balance of his hands.
"Yea, he's definitely a guy that I trust," noted Hurley. "He just tells me he's going to make the foul shots and he's done that versus Kansas, and he did it again tonight. It's nice when you have a guy that has that level of confidence."
The Sun Devils come out of Tempe tonight with a win but have some tuning to do on free throws and shooting before there next game. Next up for the Arizona State Sun Devils on the home stretch is Oregon on Saturday (Jan. 19). The Oregon Duck are coming off a victory against at Arizona.
OREGON STATE HEAD COACH WAYNE TINKLE QUOTES
What did ASU do early on to put OSU in a hole?
"They got very physical with us on the perimeter and made it tough for us to run our stuff. We did a really nice job of spreading them out, driving it, getting to the free throw line and finding shooters, but we just couldn't hit a shot. On the other end they attacked us inside off the dribble and we knew they were going to try to bully us in there. We give their big and guards really drove it which took away our shot blocking ability at the rim because we were knocked on our heels."
ASU forced a ton of turnovers, how did you guys prepare for that?
"Our defense worked on a lot of pressure and gap help. They shot a lot better tonight than they had been but our defense was suppose to make adjustments. We knew Edwards was the best shooter that they had, yet we let him get three from the three-point line. Cherry had been shooting well and after he hit his second one we needed to make him a dribbler. That was the plan originally, we knew he was one of their better shooters. We lost our focus defensively and they got some confidence going. Then we mixed things up, we went to our 1-3-1, created some havoc, and got ourselves into the game but just came up short."
There was a lot of trouble with shooting in the first half, you only shot 26 percent (7-of-27) from the field. What did you tell your team at the half to try and get them pumped? I know you guys had come out flat.
"We said we just need to keep doing what we're doing. We need to dig it in a little better and make free throws when we get there. Now we were looking hesitant and had shooters that needed to keep taking the good shots and avoid the bad ones to get us back into this. I was really disappointed because we were suppose to be the aggressor to start the second half. We found a way and found a group to get some momentum going and made it interesting. We had the ball in our hands with a chance to win it and we lost it. Our guys showed a lot of heart."
Was there anything about this ASU team that was different compared to any of the teams that you have faced so far?
"Their guards are physical and they really look to attack. Defensively they ride you all over the place and put it on the officials to make calls. They are probably a more physical team on the perimeter, and again they shot it a lot better tonight than they had been."
Saturday you guys go down to Tucson to play UA, how do you feel going into this game off of your first loss during conference play?
"We're going to feel good. We have no choice. We got one more game on this road trip. We're going to put a plan in place to try and get one to get the road split."
You started the Pac-12 Conference play 3-0, the best start since the '92-'93 season, what does that mean to you as a coach to accomplish something like that?
"We can't really dwell much on that. You know it's a neat deal for people to talk about but we kept saying we gotta move on to the next thing. When we suffered tough losses we didn't dwell on it too long. Now that we're having some success we can't dwell on it. We need to move forward. Don't think we did a good enough job of that tonight and that's why we didn't get the win."
Is there anything that you want to focus on leading up to the game?
"Gotta be better defensively and we gotta make shots."
REMY MARTIN QUOTES
On free-throw shooting
"We just got to dial in and those will come back and hurt us more if we don't focus in and actually sink our free-throws, including myself. I definitely have to hit free throws and extend the game, those can actually come back and they can hurt us. We just got to get back in the gym and really concentrate and make our free-throws, that's all that matters, no matter if it's free-throws, jump shots anything. We have to step up to the free-throw line, step up to the three-point line and hit shots."
On if confidence is affecting free-throws:
"No, because our guys go into the free-throw line in game thinking they are going to make shots and thinking that it will go in. Then again, we all spend a great amount of time in the gym getting shots up and making plays. Sometimes it just doesn't go our way but great teams capitalize on those and we just got to go in the gym and shoot some more and make free-throws."
On if this was a type of game that good teams can pull out a win
"Yes, definitely. We got lucky, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that we got the win. That's all the matters. We were up a good amount, we have so much to learn from the film where we get away, how to attack a 1-3-1 when somebody throws it at us. Because eventually, that's slowed us down. A lot of things we got to learn from every game. I think that we're getting better, feeling better. It's just that we have to stay consistent throughout the whole game and that's my job, is for us to be consistent throughout the whole game, I have to take a bigger role in that."
On team's defensive effort
"The fact that we played a whole thirty-seconds. We knew that they were going to pass the ball around and drag us through the clock. For us to stay focus and play through it and make them take a contested jumper or a shot they don't usually take is how we got going. They missed and we got in transition, we got the crowd going. That game, a lot of people came out, but we've seen the crowd a lot more energized and into the game. It was tough to get that going and soon as we got the crowd going and played how we played. Lu (Luguentz Dort) got in transition, Z (Zylan Cheathem), that's when we stepped it up but we also have to maintain that throughout the whole time."
On if felt Oregon State feeling frustrated by team's defense
"Lu (Luguentz Dort) did a great job picking up the ball full-court and their guards play a lot of minutes, they play a lot of minutes. I think they got worn down a little bit and was a little tired. That's Lu (Luguentz Dort), that's our team, we drained them through the second half and we got going and thanks for the fans that came out. It was a pretty nice student section there."
On how team kept it together during Oregon State's late run
"We been through a lot these last couple weeks and just learning from those losses and also those wins. We have a lot to learn from today, but we have to do a better job [of] closing them out, that's just period. They're a great team, they hit tough shots but at the end of the day, great teams put their foot on their throat."
On issues guarding the three-point line tonight
"We got in scramble mode. When one had to help too much, they kicked out and gave the Thompson brothers (Stephen Thompson Jr., Ethan Thompson) and Tinkle (Tres Tinkle) open shots. Once you hit one, you start getting confident, because we've had blown leads and they know that. For them to get going and hit a couple threes, they gain confidence and they hit even the tough ones that they wouldn't of hit in the first-half."
On if the team will be discouraged knowing teams know that they blow leads
"I just think more likely the ball is in our court. If we allow them to that, then yes but we got to do a better job of making sure they don't gain confidence, making sure we take that 20-point lead into a 30,40,50, just keep going, keep playing until the buzzer is off."
On if this was a sign they can win long possession, grind out games
"We have done it throughout the whole season, it's just the fact that we kind of have got away from it sometimes and teams come back hit great shots and we lose. We have showed that in every game that we're able to play and we're able to beat any team we want to. It's just when we lockdown and really focus and stay consistent. We haven't been consistent throughout this whole year and I think that it's coming, but we have to force it to now because season starts now."
