Fall River’s Joson Sanon scores 19, leads Arizona State to 6-1 record

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. – Sun Devil Men’s Basketball advances to the Acrisure Classic Championship game after capturing a thrilling 85-82 victory over New Mexico on Thanksgiving night.

Head Coach Bobby Hurley’s teams have always done a good job winning close games and making halftime adjustments. Both happened late Thanksgiving night in Palm Springs.

Arizona State (6-1) led by 13 early and trailed by nine late but came back to beat New Mexico 85-82 late Thanksgiving night in a back-and-forth game that had 10 ties and seven lead changes.

ASU – who has scored 80+ in six straight games — led 34-21 with 5:38 left in first half, but the Lobos closed the half on a 16-1 run to lead 37-34 at recess and then pushed the lead to 50-41 with just over 10 minutes remaining. ASU then outscored the Lobos 34-22, which included 20-of-25 from the free throw line in the second half.

Basheer Jihad led the Sun Devils 20 points and added six boards, while freshman Joson Sanon had 19 points off the bench. BJ Freeman added 16 points, including 7-of-8 from the free throw line, while Alston Mason added 11 points and five assists.

Sanon continues to emerge as one of the premier freshman in the country. He finished with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting off the bench. Over the last four games, Sanon has scored a total of 80 points (20 ppg) and grabbed 18 rebounds (4.5 rpg). During that span, he is shooting 27-47 (57.4%) from the field and 12-22 (54.5%) from beyond the arc. He is now averaging a team-best 15.0 points per game this season.

ASU will face St. Mary’s (7-0) at 6:30 p.m. PT/7:30 p.m. AZT in the title game Friday, and then will host San Diego on Tuesday, Dec. 3, for its final home game prior to Big 12 play.  Television coverage can be found on TruTV.