Arizona 71, Arizona St. 54
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Mark Lyons scored 24 points and seventh-ranked Arizona used an 11-0 run midway through the second half en route to a 71-54 victory at Arizona State on Saturday.
Lyons, a graduate transfer from Xavier, tied his career high at Arizona, making 8 of 15 shots. He scored 15 points after halftime, taking advantage of the soft defense by ASU point guard Jahii Carson, who started the second half with three fouls.
Lyons' career high is 27 points, vs. St. Louis last season.
Sophomore guard Nick Johnson added 19 points for Arizona in front of 10,900 at Wells Fargo Arena.
Arizona (16-1 overall, 4-1 Pac-12) led throughout the second half, but ASU cut the deficit to 46-44 with 10:23 to play on a layup by freshman point guard Jahii Carson. Arizona pulled away from there, taking advantage of Carson's brief absence after he picked up his fourth foul with 9:50 to go.
Arizona led by nine by the time he came back in with 8:04 to go, and the Wildcats finished the 11-0 run on a spinning drive to the basket by Lyons to make the score 57-44 with 6:24 left.
Carson scored 22 points to lead ASU (14-4, 3-2).
Arizona avenged a 64-62 loss in Tempe in last year's finale, a defeat that likely kept UA from earning an at-large berth in the NCAA tournament.
It was a taut first half Saturday, with eight lead changes, but Arizona used a late 12-2 run to take a 29-22 lead with 1:50 to go. The Sun Devils closed the deficit to 29-26 at the break after Evan Gordon stole the ball from Lyons at midcourt and scored on a breakaway with 2 seconds left.
Carson picked up his third foul on a charge with 9.7 seconds to go before the break. He split a double-team at the 3-point line but then plowed over Kevin Parrom on his way to the basket.
Gordon and Carson combined for 23 of the ASU's 26 first-half points, as Arizona shut out Carrick Felix, the Devils' second-leading scorer at 15.1 points per game. Felix didn't score until hitting a 3-pointer with 15:16 to go in the game. He finished with just five points, shooting 1 of 8 from the field.
NOTES: ASU guard Chris Colvin was not in uniform because of a violation of team rules. He has been the team's top reserve, averaging 5.7 points per game. ... ASU coach Herb Sendek dropped to 2-5 against Arizona's Sean Miller, who was an assistant to Sendek at Miami (Ohio) and North Carolina State. Sendek is 7-7 vs. Arizona. ... ASU honored its football team at halftime and brought out the Territorial Cup it won by beating Arizona in the regular-season finale in November.
