Aztecs

Pulliam's Late Floater Lifts Aztecs Past Arizona State

It was a rough shooting night and an ugly game, but San Diego State showed it can win in gritty fashion with key hoops and late defensive stops.

Trey Pulliam made a go-ahead floater in the lane with 1:05 left and San Diego State held off Arizona State 65-63 Thursday night.

Lamont Butler scored 14 points for SDSU (2-1), which beat the Sun Devils (2-2) for the second straight year. Matt Bradley scored 12 and Keshad Johnson and Nathan Mensah had 10 each for the Aztecs.

Pulliam's floater gave the Aztecs a 64-63 lead.

ASU missed three 3-pointers in the final 16 seconds, including a desperation shot by Jamiya Neal with three seconds left, after Bradley made one of two free throws.

Marreon Jackson scored 16 and Kimani Lawrence had 14 points and 12 rebounds for ASU.

Arizona State took a 39-30 lead early in the second half before SDSU used a 12-0 run to take the lead. Butler and Adam Seiko had 3-pointers and Mensah a slam dunk after rebounding a missed free throw by Butler.

ASU worked the lead back to four before SDSU came back on 3-pointers by Butler and Seiko. ASU's last lead was 63-61 on Jackson's jumper with 1:43 left.

Both teams shot poorly. SDSU shot 39.2% while ASU shot 37.3%. ASU made only 6 of 28 3-pointers (21.4%) while SDSU made 6 of 21 (28.6%).

ASU led 30-28 at halftime.

Contact Us