The Sun Devils have won their first three games in conference play
TEMPE — Jose Perez had a season-high 26 points and Frankie Collins finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead Arizona State to an 82-70 victory Thursday night over Utah at Desert Financial Arena.
Adam Miller contributed 13 points and Shawn Phillips Jr., in his third game back after missing eight games with a mid-foot sprain, had nine points and seven rebounds for Arizona State (9-5, 3-0 Pac-12).
Utah (11-3, 2-1) was led by Branden Carlson’s 19 points and eight rebounds.
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Collins, who did not participate in warmups because he had flu symptons, tied with Adam Miller for the most minutes played in the first half with 16 when Arizona State built a 41-36 lead.
He had five points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal in the first half.
Collins made a layup to open the second half, tying Arizona State’s largest lead at the time of seven points.
Utah cut the lead to 48-47 with 13:46 remaining, but Collins answered with a 3-pointer.
The Utes then trimmed it to 51-49 with 12:27 left, but Collins responded with a jump shot and two free throws to increase the lead to 55-49 with 10:49 remaining.
Utah had a four-point possession behind a 3-pointer by Rollie Worster followed by a technical foul on Miller when he threw Lawson Lovering to the ground while maneuvering for a rebound.
Carlson made one of the two technical-foul free throws to cut the lead to 55-53 with 10:33 left.
Arizona State followed with six unanswered points while Utah missed five straight shots from the field and committed two turnovers.
Carlson’s bank shot with 6:44 left ended the drought, but Collins responded again with a 3-pointer on Arizona State’s following possession to increase the lead to 64-55.
The lead increased to 70-57 with 4:57 left after 3-pointers on consecutive possessions by Perez and Miller.
Utah committed 15 turnovers that led to 15 points for Arizona State.
The Sun Devils shot 50 percent (30 of 60) from the field, 42.9 percent (12 of 28) from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
