The Sun Devils got off to a slow start but finished strong down the stretch thanks to a Jordan Bachynski double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds to take down the University of Maryland Baltimore County Retrievers 96-61 Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
“I think we played very well everyone got in and contributed,” sophomore guard Jahii Carson said. “I’m definitely impressed with how everyone played tonight.”
Penn State transfer Jermaine Marshall and Jahii Carson also led the way for ASU with 19 points a piece. Carson added five assists to his total while Marshall also had four steals.
“We played with each other in and out of practice, Carson said. “It is a little tough when we have to get our matchups in.”
Arizona State was only up 9-8 at the first media timeout with 15:22 to play and the Retrievers stuck around for the first eight minutes and still only trailed 17-12 through the first 12 minutes with the UMBC zone giving ASU trouble.
“It felt good, we just got to keep moving forward and getting better,” Carson said.
ASU went on a 26-13 run over the next 10 minutes to take a 43-25 lead with 2:24 to play and took a 45-28 lead into halftime.
“I told our team after the game I really liked their attitudes tonight,” head coach Herb Sendek said. “Everybody was in a good place mentally, they were really a team from that standpoint.”
The run and lead was helped by the Sun Devils free throw shooting. ASU shot 33 of 44 from the line good for 75 percent.
The entire starting lineup also scored in double digits.
“I thought Jermaine really played well tonight,” Sendek said. “He shot the ball well and made his free throws he had a good solid performance.”
The Retrievers went on a 19-15 run to start the second half and got the score as close as 60-49.
“I thought we started the 2nd half poorly,” Sendek said. “We didn’t come out with the crispness we anticipated and expected of ourselves.”
However the Sun Devils went on a 33-5 run to get up 93-54 and never looked back while also out rebounding UMBC 50 to 35 on the glass.
“We just got to stay hungry and humble,” Carson said.
