Magic carpet ride continues
January 18th, 2008, 1:51 am · Post a Comment · posted by Mark Heller
Greetings from the Bay area. There aren’t many scenes better than flying over the snow-capped mountains en route to the Bay area, or the sights of San Francisco during the landing process. The views are worth the price.
As for basketball, Arizona State got off to a whale of a start in dramatic fashion Thursday night against California.
First of all, what a game. There were 12 ties and 18 lead changes. And three times in the final 15 minutes of play, Cal had ASU on the canvas.
But the Devils — with a starting lineup of three freshmen, one junior and a little-used senior — survived 99-90 in double overtime in their first conference road trip of the year. They did it even though they led just twice in the second half of regulation, couldn’t stop a potent Bears’ offense (yeah, they’re good) for the first 40 minutes, and barely made half their free throws.
ASU, 4-0 and in first place in the Pac-10, has now won 10 consecutive games for the first time since the 1980-81 season.
The Devils are also 4-0 in their past four visits to Cal. They’ve won just four road games in three seasons spanning the rest of the globe.
It was a shame this one wasn’t on TV back in Arizona, and, for about 15 minutes early in the game, the KKNT (960 AM) radio broadcast got booted off the air from the player introductions through part of the first half.
According to play-by-play man Tim Healey, the cause of the outage wasn’t certain, but it was believed a cord or plug was accidentally kicked out of place beneath the scorer’s table.
Speaking of worth the price of admission, there’s Jeff Pendergraph, who missed one shot in the first half and finished 12 of 17 from the floor. He’s shooting 67.5 percent for the season, tops in the Pac-10. He was a bully inside, had his touch working outside (except for one ugly-looking 3-point attempt – but he had no regrets afterward about taking it).
Jamelle McMillan and Antwi Atuahene got the starting nod in place of Derek Glasser and Jerren Shipp, respectively. The reason wasn’t known Thursday night as there wasn’t time to ask Coach Herb Sendek about it. But a few people around the program felt it stemmed from practices, and Atuahene had been especially impressive of late.
Regardless, both Glasser and McMillan played well, and Shipp came up with some key rebounds in the two overtimes.
This wraparound pass by Jamelle McMillan turned into one of the prettier exchanges. It went to Antwi Atuahene under the basket, who then fed Jeff Pendergraph (26 points) for an easy layup.
Cal’s problem, ultimately, was its defense. ASU shot 58 percent in the first half and still trailed by three points, and neither side relented when it came to making shots until overtime, when Cal went stone cold (21 percent in the two overtimes). Relatively speaking, the Sun Devils did not (43 percent in the OTs). Cal coach Ben Braun figured either Harden or Abbott were going to take those late 3-pointers, but the Bears still failed to switch on defense and Abbott was left open.
With Jordan Wilkes out because of injury, former Mesa Mountain View standout Harper Kamp tussled with Eric Boateng and (briefly) Pendergraph. The freshman Kamp only played 10 minutes and didn’t attempt a shot, but he appears to be a ways away from major minutes because of Cal’s depth up front. Still, he’s a big, strong body and, in time, should develop into a solid contributor.
ASU’s Eric Boateng (left) briefly got the the best of Harper Kamp (right) Thursday night, but these meetings have only begun.
Final stat of the night: In 50 minutes of action, Glasser and McMillan combined for 10 assists and one turnover at point guard.
No significant injuries to report.
Up next: Stanford on Saturday at 8 p.m. (Arizona time) on FSN Arizona.
