TEMPE, Ariz. — Romello White scored 18 points and grabbed 17 rebounds, Remy Martin led all scorers with 23 points and Arizona State pulled away in the second half to beat Georgia 79-59 for its fifth straight win.
“All my family back home was watching the game,” White said. “I felt like I had to show out today. Had to do the best I could.”
Sophomore Tye Fagan paced Georgia in scoring, recording a career-high 15 points. Freshman Anthony Edwards was the only other Bulldog to record a double-digit scoring performance, tallying 13. Junior Rayshaun Hammonds grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
“It was tough to get anything going and we never got into a rhythm,” Georgia Head Coach Tom Crean said. “We did not move very well without the ball early on and we didn’t move the ball as well as we needed to… We have got to get mentally tougher and this was our first true road test… We didn’t handle that as well as we needed to and we have to learn from that.”
Edwards continued his dominance in the opening minutes, scoring eight of Georgia’s first ten points, including a fast-break layup and a made free-throw for a three-point play. These baskets from Edwards knotted the game 10-all with 15 minutes remaining in the opening period.
While the Sun Devils pulled away occasionally in the next five minutes of play, the Bulldogs stayed within one until a three-point shot from senior Tyree Crump gave Georgia the 18-16 lead with 8:20 remaining.
Arizona State quickly regained the lead and extended it to four, 26-22, with a little over five minutes remaining. While Georgia was able to get within two multiple times, the Bulldogs were not able to cut the deficit any further.
The Sun Devils grabbed their largest lead of the game, eight, as time elapsed to send Georgia into the locker room trailing, 39-31.
Out of the half, Crump and graduate transfer Donnell Gresham Jr. recorded back-to-back three-point shots. Shortly after, the Sun Devils grabbed their first double-digit lead of the game, 48-37, with 16:33 to play.
With 7:19 remaining, the Bulldogs faced their first 20-point deficit of the night, 71-51. Georgia would trail by 20-plus points for a majority of the final minutes to fall to Arizona State, 79-59.
Georgia was one of the best offensive teams in the nation coming into the game, averaging 86 points, but Saturday's 59 were a season low. Bulldogs coach Tom Crean said Edwards was “banged up” and dealing with an injury that affected his performance but said “he's got to play better than that. Everybody does."
“Their best players had really good games," Crean said. “Ours didn't.”
Arizona State led 39-31 at halftime after White's tip-in banked off the glass and through the hoop as time expired. Martin led the Sun Devils with 15 points in the first half.
Up next, the Bulldogs return home to face Southern Methodist University on Friday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. The matchup will be televised on the SEC Network.
RAZZLE DAZZLE
Arizona State went ahead by 18 points in the second half on an impressive fast break. Jaelen House jumped in a passing lane for the steal and took off down the court before passing to Verge, who threw a behind-the-back pass to Kimani Lawrence for the finish.
STAYING HOT
White continued playing some of the best basketball of his college career on Saturday. The Atlanta native had averaged 15.7 points and 13.7 rebounds in the three games before facing the Bulldogs.
He went into the game shooting 70% from the field (33 of 47) this season.
“It's just the work I've put in,” White said. “Working on my body, getting my body right. Working on my vertical. Just really this summer, I tried to put in as much as work as I could to be as dominate as I could this year.”
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Bulldogs hadn't played in 10 days, taking a break to get through the fall semester's exams. They looked rusty in their return and Edwards was quiet as Arizona State built its lead in the second half.
Arizona State: It's a nice win for the Sun Devils, who are hitting the tough part of their nonconference schedule with St. Mary's and Creighton coming up in the next week. Arizona State was especially good on defense, using defensive pressure to force Georgia into some bad decisions.
UP NEXT
Georgia returns home to host SMU on Friday.
Arizona State faces St. Mary's in Phoenix on Wednesday.
(The Associated Press contributed to this story.)
