Recap: Huskies Overcome Early Deficit to Beat Sun Devils 95-83 in Overtime

The Huskies came out flat to begin the game despite being solidly favored on their home court. Gerry Blakes started off the scoring with a three-pointer one minute into the contest. By the time the clock ticked down to 12:49 the Sun Devils had built a 19-5 lead on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Huskies, on the other hand, shot 2-8 from the field over that same stretch and turned the ball over four times. The effort on both offense and defense was simply unacceptable and Romar was hopping mad.

Dominic Green knocked down a much-needed three to make it 21-10 with just over eleven minutes left in the first half. Holder turned the ball over on a double-dribble on the next possession and Dickerson took advantage with a layup to bring the deficit down to single digits.

Murray scored back-to-back layups to make it 21-16 on a 9-0 Washington run. After treading water for almost ten minutes of the first half, the Huskies seemed to finally come alive.

The Sun Devils capitalized on a Thybulle turnover with a layup to stop the run, then followed with a Holder three at the 7:00 minute mark, his third of the game.

After a brief flash of quality during the 9-0 run, the Huskies returned to missing shots and playing lackadaisical defense. With 3:53 remaining the Sun Devils had reestablished a 37-23 lead.

At halftime the score was 44-32. Tra Holder managed to score all 12 of his points via 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc. He also dished five assists. Blakes, Atwood, and Goodman each scored 7 points.

Dejounte Murray carried the Huskies in the first half, scoring a game-high 13 points. Andrews was essentially invisible, missing all five of his shots and scoring his only two points of the half at the free-throw line. He also recorded zero rebounds and zero assists. All three of Washington's key bigs picked up two fouls.

The second half got out to a slow start for both teams, but a pair of Murray layups made it 45-36 with 17:10 remaining. True to their first half form, ASU followed that sequence by splashing a very deep, very open three to reestablish a double-digit lead.

Chriss scored his first field goal with 15:33 remaining, but Holder spoiled the fun and answered with yet another three, his fifth make in six tries.

When another Chriss layup brought the deficit down to single-digits yet again, Holder finally missed a heat-check three.

The pattern of deflating three-point answers from ASU finally broken, Washington jumped on the chance and cut the lead to five with a Chriss free throw and a Thybulle three with 13:36 remaining.

Coach Hurley was forced to take a timeout, but it did them no good. Thybulle's block created a fast-break chance that saw Murray lose the basketball under the basket only to pick it up from between his legs and create a three-point play.

On the next possession Murray repeated himself, fumbling the basketball only to pick it back up and see a potential and-one slowly rim out. Baby Boy knocked down both to give himself 20 points and tie it up 51-51 with 12:53 remaining.

With the game finally evened up, the Huskies promptly gave up two free throws and a fast break layup on a Dejounte Murray turnover to make it 54-51.

Murray tied the game 56-56 with a free throw with only 8:30 remaining, but Atwood reclaimed the lead with two free throws.

Chriss tied it back up and earned an opportunity for a three-point play, but missed the free throw that would have given the Huskies their first lead of the night.

Murray, still hobbled, was fouled hard on a fast break and hit what should have been an and-one, but the refs waved off the shot and sent him to the line to shoot two. He finally gave the Huskies their first lead of the night by hitting the first, then hit the second for good measure.

With just under seven minutes in the game the referees kicked off a ten minute video review session before deciding to call a flagrant-one on Malik Dime. The resulting free throws made it 62-62.

Kody Justice hit a catch-and-shoot corner three on the next possession, but Murray answered with a difficult layup to keep the score within one. With 4:47 remaining, Murray earned another trip to the line and hit both to make it 69-68 in favor of the Sun Devils.

Chriss earned yet another opportunity at the line on Jacobsen's fifth foul and hit 1-2, making him 3-9 from the line but tying up the score 69-69.

After yet another long review session after the Sun Devils were given a short shot clock, Kodi Justice hit an incredibly long two to claim the lead.

ANOTHER lengthy video session resulted in a double flagrant that fouled out Atwood and gave Andrews his third foul.

The Huskies were bailed out of a Thybulle miss by a questionable foul called on Spight. Chriss finally hit both to give the Huskies a two-point lead, but Holder tied it right back up on the other end.

Andrews, still without a field goal, threw up a beautiful lob that Chriss hammered home to make it 75-73.

Blakes drew a fifth foul on Thybulle but split his free throws. Andrews drew a whistle with 55 seconds left and drained both shots to claim a 77-74 lead.

ASU missed twice but grabbed the offensive board both times before taking their final timeout. Murray picked up his fourth foul to put Holder at the line with 26 seconds left. He missed the first but made the second, and Murray was fouled immediately.

Murray calmly drained the first shot for a career-high 30 points, and then missed the second, giving Kodi Justice the chance to drain a heroic game-tying three.

Andrews tried to avoid overtime but came up empty.

The overtime scoring began with free throws, of course, with Murray hitting two shots to give the Huskies a narrow lead. After an ASU miss, Murray scored on a crafty move to the rim.

Andrews missed yet another three-point attempt, but Chriss was right there to flush home the put-back. Unfortunately, Murray was whistled for his fifth foul with 3:45 remaining, finishing with 34 points.

Finally, with 2:45 left in overtime, Andrew Andrews drained an open three to make it 87-80. With his streak of misses snapped, he hit his very next jumper from mid-range. A Dime layup made it 91-80, finally giving the Huskies a comfortable lead.

Several more foul calls later, the game ended with a final score of 95-83.

It was a truly ugly game of basketball mostly spoiled by referees and then transcended by Murray's brilliance.

Baby Boy finished with 34 points on 10-14 shooting, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, one block, and one steal. Chriss overcame early foul trouble to score 19 points on perfect 7-7 shooting. Andrews shot a miserable 2-13 from the field, but still scored 13 points and helped seal the deal in overtime. Dime had 8 boards and 3 blocks.

Somehow Washington's terrible first half feels like an eternity ago, but it's worth remembering that the Sun Devils controlled this game and the Huskies clawed their way back.

Perhaps it should not have been so difficult, but Coach Romar will take this win before Saturday's game against Arizona, which will be followed by a tough road trip to face Utah and Colorado.

A loss could have been disastrous, but Dejounte and Co. didn't let it happen.