Evans, White lift Sun Devils
NO. 25 ARIZONA ST. 88 WASHINGTON ST. 78
PULLMAN, Wash. — Shannon Evans II scored 23 points, Romello White had 21 and No. 25 Arizona State beat Washington State 88-78 on Sunday.
Tra Holder had 20 points for Arizona State (17-6, 5-6 Pac-12), which was coming off a loss at Washington.
“I loved how we consistently built a lead in the second half,” coach Bobby Hurley said. “They charged back and we responded. So it was very good I thought.”
Malachi Flynn scored 22 points for Washington State (9-13, 1-9), which has lost five games in a row and is last in the conference. The Sun Devils shot 70% in the second half to hold off the Cougars, who committed 18 turnovers.
“We got back to being more active on defense,” Hurley said. “We generated a lot of live ball turnovers, which got us out in the open court and got the game to the speed we like.”
An 11-2 run to open the second half put the Sun Devils ahead 51-40.
Carter Skaggs made a three-point basket for the Cougars to tie the score 5959. Viont’e Daniels made a three-pointer to put Washington State ahead and Skaggs followed with a three for a 65-61 lead.
A foul and a technical foul against White sent Robert Franks to the free-throw line for four shots. He made three to tie the score 72-72.
Remy Martin made two baskets and Evans made a three-pointer to put the Sun Devils ahead 82-74 with four minutes remaining and the Cougars could not recover.
Franks and Daniels each had 18 points.