NBA draft pundits may be rethinking their preseason boards, because Joson Sanon looked like a first-round pick in a 68-64 win for ASU men’s basketball over Saint Mary’s on Friday.
The Gaels were coming off a dominant 71-36 win over USC in their first game of the Acrisure Classic, and they kept up the pressure in the Palm Springs tournament’s championship game to lead by nine midway through the first half.
Sanon and Jayden Quaintance, however, had the answer as they often have this season, keying a 10-3 run to end the half and get within two points at the break.
Sanon then hit back-to-back 3s on the tail end of a stretch that started the second half in which ASU allowed only one Saint Mary’s field goal over nearly 7:30 of game time. He would finish with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
The freshman guard is starting to look like a freshman of the year candidate in a loaded Big 12, and it’s time for the ASU offense to reflect that. Over the first seven games this season, there have been times where he is third, sixth and second on the team in shot attempts.
As long as he’s shooting the ball as well as he has been (50% on 4.9 3s per game entering Friday), his shots need to be the top priority. It shouldn’t take a ton to manufacture those looks either, as he has proven to be comfortable shooting in adverse conditions off movement or with a defender right in front of him.
When it was late and ASU (7-1) needed a bucket, it was Quaintance cleaning up an and-one putback off a Sanon miss at the rim. When Saint Mary’s (7-1) came down to the other end, it was Quaintance cutting off every action the Gaels tried.
The 17-year-old’s all-around efforts, including a game-high five assists, were good enough to earn rare marks.
Saint Mary’s guard Jordan Ross led the Gaels in a big way with 19 points and four assists. The former AZ Compass Prep guard had the game’s first bucket and nearly matched a career high in scoring from the previous night (15 points) in just the first half (14).
The win snapped a six-game streak of at least 80 points for the Sun Devils, but 68 points against Saint Mary’s isn’t anything to scoff at when considering it held USC to 36 a day earlier.
ASU will be back at home for one final time in its nonconference schedule on Tuesday for San Diego at 7 p.m. MST.
Neutral-court matchups with No. 18 Florida (Dec. 14) and UMass (Dec. 21) are the only other nonconference games left. ASU then tips off Big 12 play on New Year’s Eve at BYU, which is coached by former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young.
