Arizona State uses balanced attack to top St. Thomas

Arizona State freshmen Joson Sanon and Jayden Quaintance combined for 31 points and 23 rebounds in the Sun Devils' 81-66 victory over St. Thomas in Tempe, Ariz. on Sunday. Sanon had 18 points and nine rebounds and Quaintance finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. Arizona State (4-1) was also led by Basheer Jihad's 20 points and six rebounds. Amier Ali had 10 points off the bench in the win. Miles Barnstable scored 12 points and Kendall Blue had 11 for St. Thomas (3-2). The Tommies, in their fourth season at the Division I level playing in the Summit League, have fared well against established programs in the past two seasons. They lost 80-71 at Oklahoma State on Nov. 10 and nearly upset then-No. 7 Marquette on the road last season before losing 84-79. A 20-3 run by Arizona State with less than eight minutes remaining allowed the Sun Devils to pull away. After Arizona State built a 49-41 lead with 14:24 left, St. Thomas cut the lead to three points on three occasions but the Sun Devils responded each time. The game-turning 20-3 run that gave Arizona State a 78-58 lead with 1:53 left was fueled by two 3-pointers by Sanon and six points from Jihad. St. Thomas built a 19-13 lead against Arizona State with 11:13 left in the first half after a 13-2 run. Arizona State responded with a 15-2 run to take a 28-21 lead with 4:38 remaining in the half. The Sun Devils scored the last six points of the half to take a 39-29 lead into the break. Sanon had nine points and Jihad eight in the first half. St. Thomas scored the first eight points of the second half to trim the lead to 39-37 with 18:08 left. The Tommies took 37 shots from 3-point range and made 11 (29.7 percent). They also only attempted five free throws and made three. Arizona State was 18-of-26 from the three-throw line. The Sun Devils shot 50 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from 3-point range, and outrebounded St. Thomas 44-29. Despite the rebounding disparity, St. Thomas outscored Arizona State 16-5 in second-chance points. --Field Level Media