With a renewed sense of offensive prowess, Arizona State took third place at the Vegas Showdown with an 82-67 win over Vanderbilt on Friday night in Las Vegas.
After hitting 33.3 percent from the field in a 77-49 defeat to BYU on Thursday, the Sun Devils got going early on against the Commodores. Arizona State (3-2) shot 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the field in the first half, including a 7-for-12 mark (58.3 percent) from long distance.
Alonzo Gaffney posted 19 points in the win, while Jose Perez added 15 points, Jamiya Neal scored 14 and Frankie Collins had 12. Neal grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Evan Taylor recorded a game-high 25 points for Vanderbilt (3-3), while Tyrin Lawrence added 15. Van-Allen Lubin put up 11 points.
For the game, Arizona State outshot Vanderbilt from the floor 51.8 percent to 37.5 percent.
Vanderbilt kept within two possessions for much of the first half, but Gaffney’s consecutive 3-pointers opened up a double-digit Sun Devils lead. Those hoops were part of an 11-0 run that made it 40-25 with 2:07 to go in the opening half.
Arizona State went into halftime up 44-29, and the lead never dropped below eight points in the second half.
The Commodores shot 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) in the first half and were 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc prior to the break. Vanderbilt was without second-leading scorer Ezra Manjon (ankle) for the second night in a row. Colin Smith (concussion) also sat out on Friday.
The Commodores started the second half with a 9-2 surge to pull within 46-38, but a layup by Perez restored the Sun Devils’ double-digit lead. The Perez basket started an 8-0 run for Arizona State.
A layup by Kamari Lands near the midpoint of the second half put the Sun Devils up 61-43, and the gap never went below 10 points again.
The Sun Devils now have a 5-1 advantage in the programs’ all-time series.
–Field Level Media
