No. 6 Arizona Basketball weathers ASU surge, sweeps the Devils

TEMPE, AZ - Despite the Sun Devils' best attempts to rally, No. 6 Arizona Basketball (22-6, 13-4) hung tough to beat Arizona State (14-15, 8-10) by 85-67 final. 

Looking to earn the regular season sweep of rival Arizona State, No. 6 Arizona Basketball traveled to enemy territory for what turned out to be a thrilling game.

Building a 14-point halftime lead, the Wildcats weathered a second-half surge by the Sun Devils, eventually coming away with the 85-67 win!

Largely fueled by Kylan Boswell's 17 points, two rebounds, and two assists, even with his four fouls, it was a big day for the sophomore guard bounced back in a big way. 

But overall, it was truly a team effort in this one as all five of Arizona's starters finished in double-figures with Caleb Love and Oumar Ballo finishing with 16 and 14 points respectively, meanwhile, Pelle Larsson added 12, and Keshad Johnson finished with 10 points.

Arizona's bench was stellar in this one as well, scoring a combined 16 points against the Sun Devils as Jaden Bradley scored seven points in 25 minutes of play as he covered for Boswell who was in foul trouble.

Despite blowing a 14-point halftime lead, No. 6 Arizona Basketball was able to pull away in the end.

Looking hot to start this one, Arizona jumped out to a commanding, 22-9 lead after the first eight-plus minutes of game action as the Wildcats took advantage of a cold shooting start by the Devils.

Continuing to pour it on, the Wildcats eventually pushed its lead to 18 when a layup from Kylan Boswell made it 30-12 with 7:55 to play in the first half.

Unfortunately, ASU would begin to climb back into this one, responding with a 12-6 run to cut Arizona's lead to just 12 with 2:34 to play in the first half.

Luckily, that's as close as they would get in the first half as Arizona closed out the half outscoring ASU 5-3, pushing its lead to 41-27 at the break.

And looking to maintain its momentum, unfortunately, that would not happen. ASU would finally begin to find its shooting touch, beginning the second half on a 10-2 scoring run to pull within six with 17:07 to play.

Needing some sort of response, luckily, Arizona would answer, using a 7-1 run to pull ahead by 12, but after regaining its momentum, ASU would respond yet again, seemingly matching every Arizona scoring run.

ASU would eventually pull within five after Jamiya Neal connected on one of two free throw attempts to make it 61-56, but that would be the closest they would get as Arizona closed out the game on a 24-11 run to come away with 85-67 win!

With the win, the Wildcats now improve to 22-6 (13-4) on the season and will return to action when they take on Oregon on Saturday. Tip-off against the Ducks is set for 12:00 PM MST with the game being broadcast on ESPN. 

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