No. 23 Arizona State holds off Grand Canyon 71-70

PHOENIX -- — Remy Martin hit a 3-pointer with 9 seconds left and scored 31 points, lifting No. 23 Arizona State to a 71-70 victory over Grand Canyon on Sunday.

Grand Canyon (4-1) rallied from an eight-point deficit to take a 70-68 lead in the final minute on consecutive 3-pointers by Jovan Blacksher Jr. and Alessandro Lever.

Arizona State called timeout after Lever's 3 and worked the ball around to Martin in the corner. He made the shot and Blacksher's final attempt rimmed out.

The Sun Devils (4-2) struggled without leading rebounder Marcus Bagley (left calf) in a 12-point loss to No. 24 San Diego State on Thursday. Bagley was still out, but Arizona State made up for it with blistering second-half shooting and a much more aggressive Martin.

The AP preseason All-American had nine points on 2-of-8 shooting against the Aztecs, but pushed the action against GCU and hit 12 of 21 shots — none bigger than his corner 3 with 9 seconds left.

Arizona State made 15 of 27 shots in the second half of the neighboring schools’ first meeting since 1980,

Blacksher had 21 points and Lever 18 for the Antelopes, who hit 17 of 31 shots in the second half.

The schools are just 13 miles apart, but had not met since the Antelopes became a Division I program in 2013.

Defenses dominated most of the first half on Sunday.

Arizona State went 1 for 9 from the 3-point arc and had eight turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Grand Canyon was 1 for 7 from 3 and had 10 turnovers, but made five of its final seven shots to lead 30-29 at halftime.

The second half turned into an offensive show, both teams trading baskets, neither able to break away until Arizona State went on a 7-0 run to go up 56-48.

The Antelopes wouldn't go away, pulling with 64-62 on a layup by Lever with just under three minutes left. Martin hit a pull-up jumper to put Arizona State up four, but Blacksher and Lever hit consecutive 3-pointers to put the Antelopes up 68-67.

They forgot about Martin, though, and a final shot rimmed out.

BIG PICTURE

Grand Canyon may have lost, but pushing a Pac-12 school to the final seconds certainly should help the Antelopes once the WAC season starts.

Martin is the player who makes the Sun Devils go and they're a far better team when he plays aggressively, as he did against GCU.

UP NEXT

GCU hosts SAGU American Indian College on Tuesday.

Arizona State hosts UTEP Wednesday.

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