Adam Miller scored 18 points, Alston Mason finished with 17 and Arizona State hung on to beat scuffling Colorado 70-68 in Boulder, Colo., on Tuesday night.
Shawn Phillips Jr. scored 13 points and Basheer Jihad contributed 11 for the Sun Devils (12-8, 3-6 Big 12). BJ Freeman, who entered Tuesday averaging 13.0 points per contest, left the game due to an apparent leg or thigh injury after scoring three points in four minutes of court time.
Phillips also hauled in nine rebounds.
Trevor Baskin had 19 points and Julian Hammond III and Bangot Dak scored 13 apiece for the Buffaloes (9-11, 0-9), who are still searching for their first conference victory.
The Sun Devils opened up a 12-point lead in the first two-plus minutes of the second half, but Colorado proceeded to chip away at its deficit. Sebastian Rancik hit a 3-pointer and Baskin converted a putback to tie the game at 43 with 12:21 left.
Jihad was then hit with a technical, and Hammond hit the two ensuing free throws to give the Buffaloes their first lead of the game at 45-43.
Arizona State’s next five points came from the free-throw line, and the game went back and forth over the next few minutes. The Sun Devils soon started to pull away, though, getting a three-point play from Mason and hitting two more free throws before Miller drained a jumper to make it 57-53 ASU with 7:12 left.
Miller’s fourth 3-pointer of the night extended the lead to 62-57, but Colorado later responded with Dak’s dunk and free throw, making it a two-point game, 64-62.
Arizona State missed on the other end, and Rancik’s driving layup tied the affair with 1:54 left. However, Jihad answered with a three-point play to put the Sun Devils up 67-64 with 1:31 remaining.
Shortly after the teams traded turnovers, Colorado’s Andrej Jakimovski and Jihad each made two free throws before Rancik was fouled on a 3-point attempt. He made just two foul shots with 16 seconds to go to cut the Buffaloes’ deficit to 69-68, and the Sun Devils turned the ball over with 11 seconds left.
Rancik missed a corner 3-point attempt with four seconds left, Phillips split a pair of free throws two seconds later and Rancik was off on a halfcourt heave at the buzzer.
Arizona State led 33-26 at the break.
