By Evan Millstein, SDA Student Communications Assistant
The Arizona State men's basketball team has had a promising buzz around the program all offseason long. Tuesday's 102-94 double overtime victory over the 2018 Big West Tournament champion Cal State Fullerton tested the young team in the newcomers official debuts.
Rob Edwards and
Zylan Cheatham sat out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. The highly anticipated
Taeshon Cherry and
Luguentz Dort weren't in Tempe yet.
On Tuesday, they all shared the floor and fought like the group of seniors did last season.
The Devils had their backs against the wall, down two with 16 seconds left in regulation. Cleveland State transfer Edwards drew a block, hit both free-throws in the double bonus and left only 10 seconds on the clock for the Titans.
The game was tied at 83 a piece. The Devils needed a stop to force an extra period.
"He (Remy) did a great thing at the end of regulation with (Kyle) Allman where he gapped very well and helped force him to make a pass and then they had a guy that wasn't the guy they wanted to take the last shot to end it," said coach
Bobby Hurley.
Cal State's Wayne Arnold took the shot, missing and sending the game into an overtime period.
The visitors had a four point advantage with under two to play in the first overtime. Sophomore
Kimani Lawrence hit two at the line and made a nifty pass to
Romello White while falling down to tie the game at 93 with 1:03 left.
ASU scored the game's next 14 points after this sequence.
The Devils forced a missed jumper and decided to play out the rest of the game clock with possession and no shot clock. Dort attacked the rim like he did all night, but this time finding a wide open Lawrence in the corner.
"I swore that was good," said Lawrence. "I gave a little pose at the end and everything." The Tuesday night drama in Tempe would continue for at least another five minutes.
Dort gathered a rebound, took a knock and finished a three-point play to put the Sun Devils up 95-89 with just over two minutes left in double overtime.
Remy Martin finished two consecutive layups at the rim, securing the victory over Cal State Fullerton.
Dort broke the Sun Devil record for points by a freshman in a debut with 28 points while collecting a game-high nine rebounds. The way he can get to the basket with his athleticism to finish or draw contact poises Arizona State to have many tools on the offensive end all season long.
He settled down coming out of the locker room for the second half, drilling three three-pointers and slashing to the rim for a layup in the opening five minutes.
"He's got such a poised presence," he's mature for a freshman and he's very gifted," said Hurley. "In a ball screen he's very hard to deal with when he gets downhill and he gets to the back line. He can really elevate and finish and that was the highest point total of any freshman in school history so he obviously put out a strong first impression here."
Arizona State's new-look roster started the contest slow but pulled through in front of the nine thousand plus crowd. Five players reached double digits including Lawrence, showing why Hurley praised him for his offseason work.
Lawrence looked comfortable, hitting more threes Tuesday than he did all season long in his freshman campaign. He added six boards in 22 minutes.
"I worked on my game a lot and I focused on my shot a lot, this offseason," said Lawrence. "Every shot I took in the game, I felt like was going in, I was really confident."
The San Diego State transfer Cheatham finally got the chance to play in front of his home crowd. The redshirt junior made numerous trips to the charity stripe, tallying 12 points and nine rebounds. Even with the early offensive struggles, the Sun Devils grabbed 20 offensive rebounds to the Titans seven.
Kyle Allman and Khalil Ahmad were spectacular for the Titans against Arizona State, combining for 64 points and 12 rebounds from their guards. Only five points came from the duo after regulation as the Sun Devils kept the pressure and forced four Titans to foul out along the way.
The Arizona State men's basketball team is back home at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe this Friday, Nov. 9 against McNeese State. The Tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. MST can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks and heard on 98.7 FM.
POSTGAME NOTES
MOST OFFENSIVE REBOUNDS BY ASU (2006-07 TO PRESENT)
23 vs. Oregon State (Jan. 13, 2007)
22 vs. Northern Colorado (Nov. 28, 2006)
21 vs. Houston Baptist (Nov. 25, 2010 @Alaska)
20 vs. Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 6, 2018)
20 vs. USC (Mar. 11, 2015 @Pac-12 Tournament)
20 vs. Central Arkansas (Nov 10, 2012)
ONE OF FOUR: Arizona State hosting Cal State Fullerton was one of just four games on opening night (Nov. 6) between 2018 NCAA Tournament teams. Others were Michigan State vs. Kansas, Duke vs. Kentucky and Florida vs. Florida State.
