Big second half boosts Arizona State over Northern Arizona

Massamba Diop scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half and Allen Mukeba and Santiago Trouet each had eight points in the second half of Arizona State's 73-48 victory Tuesday over Northern Arizona at Tempe, Ariz.

Trouet had 12 points and eight rebounds and Mukeba 10 points and six rebounds to lead Arizona State (8-2) -- which outscored Northern Arizona 38-22 in the second half -- to its sixth win in the last seven games.

Northern Arizona (4-5) was led by Isaiah Shaw's 21 points. Zack Davidson added 12 points.

After Arizona State took an 11-2 lead five minutes into the game, Northern Arizona went on a 12-2 run that included two 3-pointers by Shaw.

The Sun Devils responded with a 14-2 run that put them ahead 27-16 with 6:41 left in the first half.

Diop had six points from the interior during that stretch.

The Lumberjacks then scored the next eight points before Arizona State answered with seven unanswered points.

Arizona State led 35-26 at halftime behind Diop's 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. Shaw scored 11 for Northern Arizona.

After cutting the lead to 35-30 early in the second half, the Lumberjacks went 4:47 without scoring.

Their 0-of-6 stretch from the field with four turnovers fueled Arizona State's 13-0 run that gave the Sun Devils a 48-30 lead with 13:43 remaining.

Northern Arizona then went nearly four minutes without a made field goal, allowing the Sun Devils to pull away to a 56-34 lead with 10:06 left.

Arizona State leading scorer Moe Odum, who averaged 18.9 points entering the game, went scoreless until 30.6 seconds remained when he made two free throws.

Odum has played against Northern Arizona three times over the last three seasons with three different teams.

Odum was with Pacific in 2023-24 when the Lumberjacks won 74-54 at Flagstaff, Ariz., and at Pepperdine last season when Northern Arizona lost 86-76 at Malibu, Calif.

--Field Level Media