Strong second half carries Arizona State past UMass

Freshman Jayden Quaintance scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help Arizona State defeat UMass 78-62 Saturday in a nonconference game at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, Mass.

Brasheer Jihad added 20 points and eight rebounds for the Sun Devils (9-2), who trailed 33-31 at halftime but outscored the Minutemen 47-29 over the final 20 minutes. Quaintance was 8 of 14 from the field.

Alston Mason (13 points) and BJ Freeman (11) also scored in double figures for Arizona State.

UMass (5-8) made its last field goal of the game with 6:52 remaining.

Rahsool Diggins scored a game-high 24 points for UMass, while making four of his eight 3-point attempts. Diggins entered the game shooting 30.9 percent from the field and 25.3 percent from 3-point range.

Jaylen Curry entered the matchup leading UMass in scoring (14.3 points) but was held to two points in 26 minutes. He missed 5 of his 6 shots from the field.

Akil Watson, who played for Arizona State last season, scored seven points in 17 minutes for the Minutemen.

Arizona State led 25-23 following a Mason layup with 7:07 to play in the first half, but UMass went on an 8-0 run to go in front 31-25. The Minutemen held their two-point advantage at halftime despite missing all of their five free-throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes.

UMass used a 6-0 spurt to take a 46-41 lead with 12:58 remaining, but Arizona State scored the next 13 points and held a 54-46 lead with 10:22 to play. The Sun Devils extended their edge to 60-49 on a Freeman 3-pointer with 8:14 to play.

The Minutemen trailed 62-56 when Arizona State assumed control by scoring the next 11 points to take a 73-56 lead with 2:04 to play.

It was the first meeting between the programs.

--Field Level Media