Joson Sanon leads ASU basketball to win over Saint Mary’s

NBA draft pundits may be pondering their preseason boards because Joson Sanon looked like a first-round pick in ASU men’s basketball’s 68-64 win over Saint Mary’s on Friday.

The Gaels were coming off a dominating 71-36 win over USC in their first game of the Acrisure Classic, and they continued the pressure in the Palm Springs tournament championship game to lead by nine midway through the first half.

However, Sanon and Jayden Quaintance had the answer, as they often have this season, putting together a 10-3 run to end the half and get within two points at halftime.

Sanon then hit back-to-back 3s at the end of a stretch that started the second half in which ASU allowed just one Saint Mary’s field goal over nearly 7:30 of playing time. He would finish with a team-high 19 points on 8-for-16 shooting.

The freshman guard is starting to look like a Freshman of the Year candidate in a loaded Big 12, and it’s time for the ASU offense to reflect that. Through the first seven games this season, there have been times when he is third, sixth and second on the team in shot attempts.

As long as he’s shooting the ball as well as he has been (50% on 4.9 3s per game entering Friday), his shooting should be top priority. It shouldn’t take a ton to produce those looks either, as he’s shown to be comfortable shooting in adverse conditions with no movement or with a defender right in front of him.

With it late and ASU (7-1) needing a bucket, it was Quaintance who cleaned up a one-and-one putback off a Sanon miss at the rim. When Saint Mary’s (7-1) came down the other end, it was Quaintance that shut down any action the Gaels attempted.

The 17-year-old’s all-around effort, including a game-high five assists, was good enough to earn rare characters.

Saint Mary’s guard Jordan Ross led the Gaels in a big way with 19 points and four assists. The former AZ Compass Prep guard had the game’s first bucket and nearly matched a career high scored from the previous night (15 points) in just the first half (14).

The win snapped a six-game streak of at least 80 points for the Sun Devils, but 68 points against Saint Mary’s is nothing to scoff at when you consider it held USC to 36 a day earlier.

ASU will be back at home for the final time in its non-conference schedule on Tuesday to San Diego at 19.00 MST.

Neutral court matchups with no. 18 Florida (Dec. 14) and UMass (Dec. 21) are the only other non-conference games remaining. ASU then tips Big 12 games on New Year’s Eve at BYU, which is coached by former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young.