ASU men's basketball (10-6, 0-3 Pac-12) and UCLA (11-6, 2-2 Pac-12) came into Saturday's game on opposite ends of the spectrum.
UCLA was riding high off an upset win over the No. 7 team in the country, Arizona, while the Sun Devils were attempting to get their first Pac-12 win after dropping one Thursday night at USC.
UCLA senior forward Tony Parker stole the show early, accumulating eight points inside the paint and four rebounds to help build the UCLA lead.
With eight minutes left in the first half of play, UCLA grew its lead to 11 points and was looking to quickly shut the door on any hopes of an ASU comeback. That was before sophomore guard Tra Holder caught fire, scoring ten points on 3-5 shooting in the first half. He helped trim the deficit to just one at the half.
Holder has shown vast amounts of maturity from his freshman year and is shooting very efficiently this season, increasing his shooting percentage from .317 to .435.
He finished with 26 points, his fourth consecutive game with at least 20.
ASU fought back behind its rebounding efforts, grabbing 23 in the first half to UCLA’s 12. The advantage in the rebounding category was in large part due to the foul trouble of Parker and sophomore center Thomas Welch, both of whom had picked up two personal fouls
The second half started nearly perfect for ASU, scoring six points to take a five-point lead in the first three-and-a-half minutes. During the time frame, the Bruins gave up the ball four times and committed three personal fouls.
After a junior forward Obinna Oleka steal and assist on a Holder jumper, UCLA head coach Steve Alford took a timeout in an attempt to regain the composure of his players.
After the timeout, the Bruins played with a sense of urgency, trying to prove that their last win was no fluke.
Junior guard Isaac Hamilton came out of the timeout with a purpose, notching a team-high 26 points. 19 of them came out of a second half outburst on 6-11 shooting to go with five points from the charity stripe.
The crippling blow came with 24 seconds left in the game as junior guard Bryce Alford knocked down a deep three to double his team’s lead to six.
UCLA sealed the deal, finishing the game on a 9-0 run to beat ASU 81-74.
Alford's season has made him an early Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate, and he scored 18 points against ASU. He was one of four Bruins to score double figures.
Sophomore guard Kodi Justice was the only Sun Devil other than Holder to tally double digit points, adding 11 points off the bench.
The Sun Devils will return to Wells Fargo Arena later this week as they host Washington State University (Thursday at 6:00 pm) and the University of Washington (Saturday at 5:00 pm).
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