Playing for the second time in as many nights, No. 15 Arizona State ran out of energy in the final minute of regulation against Texas-San Antonio.
The Roadrunners made up a seven-point deficit in the final minute, and Phillip Chime's layup with 10.7 seconds left in overtime lifted them to an 87-85 upset of the Sun Devils."There are upsets happening all over the country this year," said Arizona State guard Marcell Capers. "We just got caught up in it."
Arizona State (5-2) squandered its lead in the final minute by committing a pair of turnovers and missing two of four free-throw attempts. The Sun Devils' efforts were hindered by the absence of junior forward Mario Bennett, who fouled out with 1:34 remaining in regulation.
In the only other Top 25 game, then-No. 22 Villanova lost 60-57 to St. Joseph's. The Wildcats dropped out of the Top 25 today. Arizona State's loss dropped it from 13th to 15th.
Texas-San Antonio (3-2) whittled away at the Sun Devils' 72-65 lead as Marlon Anderson hit a 3-pointer and Thaddeus Wordlaw and Darren Webber added layups to make it 73-72 with 13.2 seconds to play.
Arizona State guard Isaac Burton made a free throw to give the Sun Devils a 74-72 lead with 17 seconds remaining, but Anderson sent the game to overtime when he tipped home a Webber miss with two-tenths of a second remaining.
"We did not put this team away when we had the opportunity to do so," said Arizona State coach Bill Frieder, whose team rallied to defeat Cal-Irvine 87-58 Saturday night. "We struggled in every phase of the game, whether it was running our offense or letting them get easy shots."
The Roadrunners dominated the overtime, taking their first lead since the game's opening basket on Cody Johnson's layup with 4:11 remaining. Webber scored six of the Roadrunners' first 10 points in overtime as Texas-San Antonio took an 84-80 lead with 45.5 seconds to play.
But when the Roadrunners seemed to have victory in hand following an offensive foul on Capers, Chime nearly became the goat. Chime was running the floor for a breakaway jam when he was whistled for traveling. He then was charged with a technical foul for hanging on the rim after the violation had been called.
Burton made the technical free throws to pull Arizona State within 84-82 with 37.3 seconds remaining. Wordlaw extended Texas-San Antonio's lead to three, but Sun Devil forward Ron Riley tied the game with a 3-pointer with 15.4 seconds remaining.
Then came Chime's heroics. As the Sun Devils watched Riley's shot fall through the net, Chime ran the length of the floor and converted a long inbounds pass into the decisive basket.
Capers missed a 3-pointer and Jimmy Kolyszko's off-balance 10-foot jump shot at the buzzer caromed off the backboard to end the game.
"This was one of those special games and it wasn't a fluke," said Texas-San Antonio coach Stu Starner, whose squad outrebounded Arizona State 47-33.