After watching senior guard Ty Abbott bang knees with an opposing player, the ASU coaching staff wasn’t sure that he would even be able to return to the floor.
Even after the senior came back into the game, he had to persuade the coaches to let him stay on the floor.
In the end, it was a good thing he did.
Abbott’s three-pointer from the top of the key with 2.2 seconds remaining put the Sun Devils in front and helped the ASU men’s basketball team (1-1) edge out a 69-66 win Saturday over Alabama-Birmingham (2-1) in their home opener at Wells Fargo Arena.
“We’re really pleased to get a really hard-fought win,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “[It was] a gut-check win for our team. Our guys were down but they really showed tremendous heart and resiliency in continuing to battle.”
The late shot by Abbott saved the Sun Devils from blowing a six-point lead in the game’s final minutes.
A three-point play by sophomore forward Carrick Felix put ASU up 65-59 with 1:47 remaining. UAB junior forward Cameron Moore’s dunk cut into the lead and following a Sun Devils’ missed layup and then a turnover, senior guard Jamarr Sanders drilled a three-pointer to make it a 65-64 game with 56 seconds to play.
ASU sophomore guard Trent Lockett was fouled and sent to the foul line, where he made the first attempt, but missed the second. Senior forward Rihards Kuksiks got the offensive rebound, but threw the ball away.
By Derek Trebesch
Quickly the other way, UAB senior guard Aaron Johnson took it to the basket and was fouled. He nailed both free throws to even the score at 66-66 with 28 seconds to play.
After a timeout, the ball was inbounded to Lockett, who penetrated and drew Abbott’s defender over on a double team, leaving the senior wide open beyond the arc.
Lockett found him and, despite a sore knee, Abbott buried it.
“Really the play was just designed for Trent to score any way he could,” Abbott said. “They weren’t stopping him the whole game. I don’t know how many shots he just went straight to the hoop uncontested, so that was the plan and they kind of caught onto that at the end. My guy left me [and] went over to help on Trent and he turned around and found me.”
Even though the play was designed for Lockett, he had no problem dishing it out to his open teammate.
“My guy did a good job of cutting me off,” Lockett said. “Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ty’s guy help. He’s a great shooter, I’m going to give him the ball in that situation and he made a huge play for us.”
ASU built its six-point advantage after falling behind by as many as eight points midway through the second half, before an 8-0 run evened the score at 50-50.
It was right before that stretch that Abbott had to leave the game with his knee injury.
“When he first got hurt I had no idea what the injury was,” Sendek said. “Any time you hear ‘knee’ and you look at someone’s face anguishing in pain, you don’t think real good thoughts. That’s not something that leads me to a lot of positive thinking. So I was really relived to hear that it was a contusion, but even then I didn’t know if he would come back.”
Abbott checked back in down by eight and, with the help of four newcomers, led the comeback.
“They did a great job for us right there and that was big,” Abbott said. “When the seniors come out and the young guys go in, they definitely stepped up; I have to give them credit for that.”
Leading the way again offensively for ASU was Lockett, who followed up his career-high performance in the season opener with a 19-point, seven-rebound and five-assist performance.
The Blazers forced Lockett to use his left hand, something he struggled with last season. But on Saturday, Lockett torched UAB off the dribble and got to the hoop at will.
“He kept us in the game, it was his play,” Abbott said of Lockett. “He had a lot of energy plays, dunks and things like that which kept the crowd in it. He is the reason I was able to hit that shot and also the reason that we have that win right now.”
Abbott finished with 15 points and freshman forward Kyle Cain provided a spark off the bench with 14 points and six rebounds.
The Sun Devils struggled from beyond the arc all night, shooting just 3-of-17 from long distance.
Ironically, one of the three makes was the difference in the game and it came from a senior leader that convinced the coaching staff to allow him to stay in the game.
“We have such faith in him,” Sendek said. “He has such an enormous heart that he wouldn’t let us take him out basically. He kept telling us he was okay, and I’m sure glad he made that decision to stay in the game because he hit the big three.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
