TEMPE — Each half had its own star Tuesday night as Arizona State beat Hofstra 85-63 to stay unbeaten, Arizona Sports reported.
Paulius Murauskas scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half to help the Sun Devils take a 41-32 lead into the break.
After halftime, freshman guard JRob Croy took over. Croy finished with a career-high 18 points, scoring 15 in the second half on 5-of-6 shooting while making all three of his 3-point attempts.
Coach Randy Bennett pointed to a late first-half 3-pointer from the top of the key by Ajak Nyuon, his first career basket for ASU, as the play of the game. “We were up six, going up nine; he got in for 30 seconds and hit that thing, so that helped,” Bennett said. “And then the second half started; JRob put on a flurry.”
ASU opened the second half on a 20-3 run to pull away from a Hofstra team that shot 50% from 3-point range in the first half.
Croy credited the attention defenses pay to Murauskas. “When they double Paulius, I mean, I’m gonna get wide-open threes,” he said. “But when they don’t, he just goes to work.”
Through three games, Murauskas is averaging 25.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists. Bennett noted his ability to draw fouls: “You can lose a good player, probably to foul trouble, at some point in that game.”
Bennett, in his first season at ASU after a long run at Saint Mary’s, called Hofstra, an NCAA Tournament team last season, a good test because of its veteran roster. “I think this is going to be a good team in the Big 12,” he said.
The Sun Devils host Louisiana-Monroe on Friday. ULM took Big 12 member TCU to double overtime Tuesday before falling 100-92.
Sources: Arizona Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Ferdinand Stöhr fellowferdi / CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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