(Photo: Dom Contini/WCSN)
TEMPE – With the fans in attendance at Desert Financial Arena on their feet – practically celebrating what looked like an undoubted Sun Devils win after a floater by redshirt junior guard Luther Muhammed gave Arizona State Men’s Basketball a 65-63 lead with 1.7 seconds left, all the Sun Devils had to do to seal the victory was contest the inbounds pass.
UC Riverside, inbounding the ball from its own baseline, got the ball to senior forward JP Moorman ll, who caught it at ASU’s three-point line, turned, took three steps and launched a prayer from 65 feet.
With the eyes of the entire arena watching the shot travel nearly three-quarters of the court, the ball swished down through the net, giving the Highlanders (1-1) the upset victory over the Sun Devils (1-1) 66-65.
ASU players stood on their home-court in shock, watching the UC Riverside team celebrate on their logo. It was sophomore forward Marcus Bagley who might have felt it the most.
Unlike his fellow ASU teammates, Bagley was the only one who could have impacted UC Riverside’s game-winning shot. Instead of staying in front of Moorman ll to contest half-court heave, Bagley lunged for the steal, which gave the senior a clear line of sight at the basket.
“It was the stupidest play of my career,” Bagley said. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
It was fitting that the Sun Devils suffered their first loss of the season on a made three-point attempt.
The Highlanders, out of the Big West Conference, kept the entire game with the higher level, Pac-12 Conference representative Sun Devils close, mostly due to one facet of the game: three-point shooting.
The Highlanders ended the night shooting 60% from three, going 14-29 from beyond the arc.
From the start of the game, it was seemingly obvious that the Highlanders entered the game with a ‘Live by the three, die by the three’ mentality.
UC Riverside opened up the game with two three-pointers within the first two minutes from junior guard Flynn Cameron.
The high-level shooting from three-point land continued throughout the entire first half. By the time the buzzer sounded at halftime, the Highlanders had racked up 10 three-point makes, shooting 10-20 from beyond the arc. They went into halftime with a 34-32 lead over the Sun Devils.
“We allowed 10 threes in the first half and that was one of our focal points coming into the game, running them off the (three point) line,” Bagley said. “Our energy was just flat.”
Coming out of their locker room at halftime, it was clear that Hurley was on his team about not allowing wide-open three point shots. The Sun Devils came out looking more energized on defense and offense.
ASU started pressuring the Highlanders on the three-point line, which led to UC Riverside only attempting nine shots from beyond the arc in the second half.
The amped-up defense led to more offensive possessions for the Sun Devils. ASU senior forward Kimani Lawrence benefitted the most, scoring 11 points in the second half, including a monster jam with a little over five minutes in the game.
Lawrence finished the game as the Sun Devils’ leading scorer, accounting for 19 points and going 9-12 from the field. Just behind Lawrence was Bagley, who ended the night with 18 points, shooting 5-11.
However, the nearly 40 points from Lawrence and Bagley combined couldn’t make up for the poor first-half defensive performance by the Sun Devils.
Hurley put the entire blame for the loss on his team’s poor defensive play.
“I thought we deserved to lose,” he said.
The 1-1 Sun Devils have an opportunity to bounce back from their heartbreaking loss on Monday night, when they take on North Florida at 7 p.m. MST in Tempe.
