(Photo: Noah Findling/WCSN)
It didn’t take long for Jahii Carson to prove he was ready to play. He finished with 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Sun Devils took care of business against the DePaul Blue Demons friday night in Chicago 78-56.
The rest of Sun Devil nation’s mind is focused on the Pac-12 championship game tomorrow, but this team slowly put together a win on the road they desperately needed after a poor showing at the Wooden Legacy tournament in Anaheim over Thanksgiving.
The Sun Devils jumped out to an early 14-5 lead with Jahii Carson and Jermaine Marshall accounting for 11 of those 14 points. The Blue Demons responded quickly, tying the game at 14 thanks to seven quick points by Durrell McDonald. Shaquielle McKissic helped the Sun Devils regain the lead scoring the next four points but the game continued back and forth for the rest of the half as ASU took a 28-25 lead into halftime.
McKissic once again started off the second half scoring and ASU began to gradually pull away as seconds ticked away. A three pointer by Jermaine Marshall with 13:08 to play set off a 14-5 run over the next five minutes to put ASU up 61-41 and sure up the Sun Devil lead. Despite the best efforts of Tommy Hamilton and Cleveland Melvin, the maroon and gold closed out the win.
Jermaine Marshall had 20 points and 5 rebounds in the win while Jon Gilling added 12 points of his own. The Sun Devils actually turned it over three more times than the Blue Demons who also grabbed one more rebound but going seven of 16 from beyond the arc while DePaul struggled from beyond only making two of 17 helped ASU tremendously. Shaquielle McKissic had a double-double off the bench with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Jordan Bachynski struggled with only three points but had 8 blocks in the win.
ASU has the week off before returning home to Wells Fargo Arena on Dec. 14th to face Grambling.
