Maui Invitational: Arizona State outlasts Washington State 100-94 despite Ace Glass’ 40 points

Who would have known the victor of the Washington State/Arizona State basketball game Tuesday would come down to the first team to 100 points.

Maybe that’s an oversimplification. But for the Cougars, two things were abundantly clear and equal : They ran out of offense while running out of time.

Arizona State withstood everything Washington State threw as the Sun Devils held off the Cougars 100-94 in a thrilling Maui Invitational semifinal at Lahaina Civic Center.

WSU’s 6-foot-3 freshman guard Ace Glass did everything he could to help his team in the hunt for an upset. A day after scoring a career-high 26 points in a come-from-behind win, Glass went off for 40, becoming the 10th player in WSU history to score that many points in a single game.

Glass made a 3-pointer, his sixth of the game, with 21 seconds left to pull WSU (3-4) within 95-92.

WSU was forced to foul and ASU (6-1) responded by making 5 of 6 in the final 15.3 seconds.

Glass was impressive from behind the 3-point line and from the free-throw line. He made 9 of 14 from the field, 6 of 9 3s and 16 of 18 free throws.

Brian Quinnett holds WSU’s career scoring record with 45 points – a mark set in 1986.

WSU had significant starts to the game and the second half.

The Cougars made their first three shots of the game – all 3-pointers from Glass – and their first six shots of the second half.

A driving basket by Glass gave the Cougars their biggest lead at 54-42 at the 18-minute, 33-second mark of the second half.

ASU clawed back to tie it at 65-65 with 12:30 to go, and the game settled into a back-and-forth battle thereafter.

Supporting Glass were Eemeli Yaloho and Tomas Thrastarson. Yaloho had 12 points and four rebounds and Thrastarson had 11 points.

Doing much of the damage for ASU was Maurice Odum, who finished with 26 points on 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range and 9 of 9 from the free-throw line.

WSU meets Seton Hall (6-1), which fell to Southern Cal 83-81 in the other semifinal, to conclude play at Maui.

After the 9-0 start, the Cougars went on a scoring drought for 4:07 . The Sun Devils took advantage, reeling off 14 straight points.

The scoring antics only intensified the next 16 minutes with WSU taking a 48-42 lead into halftime.

Talk about a polar opposite start to WSU’s opener Monday. The Cougars trailed NCAA Division II Chaminade 51-40 at half in the Maui opener.

WSU put on a shooting clinic in the first half, especially from 3-point range. The Cougars made 10 of 15 beyond the 3-point arc.

The teams combined for 15 made 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes.

Glass led the offensive assault for the Cougs with 16 points including 4 of 5 3-point attempts. Six different WSU players made 3s in the first half.

Punctuating the Cougars’ offensive fireworks was Glass sinking a 3-pointer from the top of the arc with six seconds to go before intermission.