Boateng powers Sun Devils to huge win at Stanford

mug_boatengEric Boateng had a career night, going a perfect 11 for 11 from the field and scoring a career-best 24 points as Arizona State beat Stanford at Maples Pavilion 68-60.

The win keeps the Sun Devils just 1/2 game behind Cal for first place in the Pac-10 heading into Saturday’s showdown with the Golden Bears in Berkeley.

Stanford got off to a quick start, fueled by an unlikely spark plug. Senior guard Drew Shiller hit three three-pointer in the first three minutes of the game as the Cardinal built an early 9-point lead.

Stanford kept the lead throughout the first half, leading 35-28 at the break. The Sun Devils were within 7 despite not getting any points from Ty Abbott and Rihards Kuksiks in the first half.

But Boateng was unstoppable. The senior from London had 11 points in the first half, including three dunks. Stanford’s post defenders, Jack Trotter and Andrew Zimmerman couldn’t do anything to stop him, and Boateng contributed to Zimmerman fouling out and Trotter drawing 3 personals.

Derek Glasser added 20 points for the Devils, including 15 in the 2nd half. It was Glasser’s 4th 20-point game of the season, and his first since scoring 22 in a loss at BYU in early December. Glasser was perfect from the line, hitting all nine of his attempts, and pushing his season free throw percentage to 89%.

Landry Fields led Stanford with 19 points, while Shiller added 16.

NOTES

  • Sun Devils not named Eric Boateng shot just 30% (13-43) from the field on the night.
  • In two games this season vs. Stanford, Boateng is 14 for 14 from the field. In 4 career games against the Cardinal, Boateng is 18 for 19 (95%) from the field.
  • Rihards Kuksiks was held scoreless until he hit two free throws with just :10 left in the game, narrowly avoiding his 3rd scoreless game of the season. But for whatever reason, ASU won the first two games where Kuksiks put up a zero, beating USC Upstate 61-52 and Oregon State in Tempe on February 11th.
  • The Sun Devils notched their 20th win of the season on Thursday. It is the third straight year that ASU has won 20 or more under head coach Herb Sendek.

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  • cbona

    It's unreal when Botang shows flashes of brilliance. If only he entered every game with the swagger or anger or whatever it was that we saw today. If I remember correctly, Botang was a pretty big piece of us hanging around with Cal the first game….Lets hope our whole team decides to show up on the offensive side of the ball from here on out. Our defense is very good, but I don't think that anyone can argue with the fact that our balance on offense is lacking.

    Good win devils.

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