Richie Saunders sank six 3-pointers while scoring 26 points in No. 25 BYU’s 91-81 victory over Arizona State on Wednesday in a Big 12 game at Tempe, Ariz.
Saunders, who had a career-high 30 points in BYU’s win over Arizona State in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 31, led a shooting effort by the Cougars on Wednesday that included 17 shots made from 3-point range.
BYU hit half of its attempts 34 from beyond the arc.
Trevin Knell made a season-high five 3-pointers (5-of-6 performance) and finished with 18 points as the Cougars (20-8, 11-6 Big 12) increased their winning streak to five games.
Arizona State (13-15, 4-13) was short-handed in its eighth consecutive Big 12 home loss.
The Sun Devils played their second game without leading scorer BJ Freeman after his dismissal from the team for conduct detrimental to the team.
They were also without Jayden Quaintance (knee) and Alston Mason (illness).
Adam Miller, who finished with 11 points, also missed most of the first half because of a hip injury. He did not play the last 13:09 of the game because of the injury.
Basheer Jihad led Arizona State with 19 points and freshmen Joson Sanon and Trevor Best each had 18.
Best, who played only nine total minutes in five games before Wednesday night, made 5 of 8 shots from field, 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and he converted all of his six free-throw attempts.
BYU outscored Arizona State 15-4 to take a 21-11 lead with 14:14 left in the first half.
After the Sun Devils cut the lead to three points, the Cougars extended it to 42-30 with 2:51 remaining until halftime.
Saunders and Knell had a combined 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, 9 of 13 from beyond the arc, when BYU led 47-37 at halftime.
After BYU took a 72-56 lead with 9:28 left, Arizona State rallied to narrow the lead to 78-69 following a 3-pointer by Amier Ali with 5:34 remaining.
Dallin Hall, Saunders and Mawot Mag each made 3-pointers as part of a 13-5 stretch, enabling BYU to lead 91-74 with 1:38 left.
Hall finished with 13 points and Fousseyni Traore had 10 for the Cougars.
–Field Level Media
