TEMPE, Ariz. — Jose Perez scored a season-high 27 points, Frankie Collins added 14 of his 19 points in the second half and Arizona State beat Utah 82-70 Thursday night for its third win in a row.
Arizona State (9-5, 3-0 Pac-12) lost three games in a row — by an average of 14.6 points — to end its nonconference slate.
Perez hit a 3-pointer to give Arizona State the lead for good with 51 seconds left in the first half and then stole the ball, led the fast break and lobbed a pass to Jamiya Neal for an alley-oop layup 21 seconds later that made it 41-36 at halftime.
Keba Keita threw down a dunk and Deivon Smith converted a three-point play to cap a 7-2 spurt that trimmed Utah's deficit to 48-47 with 13:46 to play but Collins answered 15 seconds later with a 3-pointer, the first of his nine consecutive ASU points as the Sun Devils scored 13 of the next 19. Collins hit a 3 and Perez added another less than a minute to make it 67-56 with 5:28 to play and Utah trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
Branden Carlson scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Utah (11-3, 2-1), which had won eight games in a row since suffering back-to-back losses against No. 3 Houston and St. John's at the Charleston Classic in mid-November. Smith finished with 13 points.
Arizona State plays host to Colorado, and Utah visits No. 10 Arizona, on Saturday
-----
Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. Sign up here
-----
AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. The Coyotes play at Mullett Arena on ASU's Tempe campus.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
12Sports on YouTube
Get the latest news and stories from 12Sports on the 12News YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe!