LAS VEGAS – With everything to gain and nothing to lose, the ASU men's basketball team traveled north to Las Vegas with a chance to play spoiler and extend its season.
The Sun Devils (15-17, 5-13 Pac-12) were eliminated by the Oregon State Beavers, losing 75-66 in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament Wednesday, presumably ending the first season of the Bobby Hurley era in Tempe.
In a start reminiscent of so many others during conference play, ASU fell behind quickly. Oregon State jumped ahead by double-digits by bombing three 3-pointers to start, and knocking the Sun Devils on their heels.
It took ASU a lot to get back off the canvas and senior guard Gerry Blakes attributed that to some team-wide jitters.
"We were a little nervous, I felt," Blakes said. "We were nervous collectively as a team."
Those nerves shone brightly through in the first half, as the Sun Devils could not sustain possessions or momentum, leading to run-outs by the Beavers and allowing the lead to continue to grow.
While the Beavers continued their offensive pace, ASU was left in the dust. Making two of their first 14 shots, the Sun Devils were out of sorts and their coach took notice.
"Our offense was really, really bad," Hurley said. "We just were settling for jump shots and we weren't shooting them with confidence."
The lone bright spot for ASU was junior forward Savon Goodman, whose 4-5 shooting performance for eight points kept his team within striking distance for most of the first half.
Despite Goodman's efficiency, the rest of the team could not catch on, shooting 3-21 in the first 20 minutes, and two of those three were by senior forward Eric Jacobsen.
Even with the anemic offensive production, ASU held tough on the defensive end and kept the score closer than it probably should have been, going into the locker room trailing 32-23.
ASU climbed back into contention throughout the second half, leaning on Blakes, who poured in 13 of his 20 points.
The Sun Devils used a combination of Blakes' scoring and improved defense to climb back within seven in the closing minutes, but the comeback bid began too little too late and the Beavers did what they had to do to hang on.
ASU, despite being the lower seed and the underdog, felt confident heading into the tournament, leaving Hurley in a state of shock at the outcome.
"(I'm) a little shellshocked," Hurley said. "I just had a good feeling coming into this game. I thought it was a pretty good opponent, a pretty good matchup for us and we didn't follow through on it."
Blakes, after closing his career with another dynamic performance, traded in his normal jovial personality for a sullen look and summed the game in just six simple words that sum up both the game and ASU's season.
"We just didn't make enough plays."
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or follow @Tonis_The_Tiger on Twitter.
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