(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Coach Bobby Hurley’s class of 2018-19 freshmen was touted as one of the best recruiting classes in recent ASU basketball history.
Wednesday night it was the two headliners of that class, Luguentz Dort (33 points, 10-15 FG’s, 11-14 FT’s) and Taeshon Cherry (15 pts, 5-7 FG’s, 2-2 FT’s), who combined for 55 percent of the team’s points in an 87-82 victory over Utah State.
“I think (Dort) knows he’s talented and he can make those plays,” Hurley said. “He’s really beyond his years in those ways. I think (a night like this for Cherry) was coming…it was some scripted things to get him in those ‘pick-and-pop’ situations.”
With the win, the Sun Devils captured the MGM Resorts regular-season tournament title, marking the second consecutive year ASU has won a regular season tournament in Las Vegas.
“I want more tournaments here so that I can keep coming here,” Hurley said. “It’s amazing, I have the same room I think that I had last year, like all these things just worked out almost exactly the same.”
The Aggies gave the Sun Devils all they could handle in the first half. Despite a two-point ASU lead at the break, Utah State shot a more efficient 45 percent (13-29) from the field to ASU’s 38 percent (11-29) and had made two more threes.
However, ASU flipped the script in the final 20 minutes shooting 65 percent (15-23, 4-8 3-pt FG’s) to Utah State’s 44 percent (12-27, 2-10 3-pt FG’s).
Although junior Aggies guard Sam Merrill led all second half scorers with 20 points, the Devils had three double-digit scorers in the half with Dort (19 pts, 5-5 FG, 8-9 FT), sophomore guard Remy Martin (11 pts, 4-7 FG, 2-2 FT) and Cherry (10 pts, 4-5 FG).
“I feel like I was prepared for this type of game and then I knew I had to step up,” Dort said. “I came today and that’s what I did.”
The play of Martin, Dort and Cherry was key down the stretch as ASU’s lead fluctuated between nine and three points over the last 10 minutes.
Dort, redshirt senior Zylan Cheatham and junior Mickey Mitchell especially had to step up down the stretch though, as big men and key frontcourt presences in senior De’Quon Lake and redshirt sophomore Romello White both fouled out between five and ten minutes to go in the game.
Cheatham ended up leading the team in assists with six, Mitchell’s only bucket was a key drive to the hoop that put the team up seven before the final media break at 2:53- after which Utah State never got within five points of the lead- and Dort scored six straight points for the Sun Devils to lock up the win.
“I don’t really like celebrating until we get the win actually,” Dort said. “We were celebrating a little bit at the end of the game, but I was telling my players ‘hold on, it’s not done yet let’s finish it’ and then after the game now we get to go celebrate.”
ASU returns to action next Wednesday at 7 p.m. when it hosts Nebraska-Omaha- by which point the Sun Devils likely will be ranked in the AP poll.
