For the second year in a row, the Arizona State Sun Devils get a much needed win over the #6 Arizona Wildcats as they defeated their rivals by a final score of 81-78 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, Arizona. 

This game started out with both sides punching each other back and forth. The WIldcats pulled out to an early 16-23 lead as Stanley Johnson knocked down his first three of the game with a little over 10 minutes left to go in the half. Arizona State, however, would claw their way back. Gerry Blakes would score his schools next four points, cutting the deficit to just three with thirteen minutes played. Freshman point guard Tra Holder was fantastic tonight making eight of nine free throws and dishing out eight assists as well. After Brandon Ashley made a jumper with 9:11 left to go in the first half, ASU would score the next nine points, which essentially won them the game.

After Arizona State came out of the halftime interval with a seven point lead, Arizona tried to climb themselves out of the hole that they dug themselves in, but they just could not do it. The Cats spent so much energy trying to catch back up, but ASU had an answer to every shot that the visitors hit. Bo Barnes came up huge in the second half making free throw after free throw. And with 48 seconds left to go in the game, he hit a three pointer that would put his school seven sealing the victory. 

Despite scoring a game high 25 points, TJ McConnell could not do enough as the Wildcats didn't do enough on the defensive side of the ball to come away with the victory. With that said, however, ASU shot the ball really well this afternoon making an astounding 26-52 of their shots. The Sun Devils got the free throw line twice as much as Arizona did and made fourteen more shots than their opponents. Savon Goodman was a handful down low tonight and finished with a team high 15 points. The 6 foot 6 inch, 215 pound sophomore wasn't that great from the free throw line today, making only one out of his five attempts, but he missed just two of nine from the field. 

Bo Barnes was phenomenal in the second half as he finished the night with 18 points in just 23 minutes of play time. He only made four baskets out of his total seven attempts from the field but he made all eight of his free throws. Finally, Holder also finished the night with 15 points, but it was his ability to move the ball around the perimeter getting his teammates good looks. 

The Arizona schools will travel up the Northwest part of the country as Arizona takes on Washington on Friday evening. Arizona State will go to Pullman to take on Washington State the same night.