Sun Devils Bring on the Bacon, Win : Southeast: Trailing at halftime, Arizona State rebounds to reach the regional semifinals for first time in 20 years.

Bill Frieder knew Arizona State could play better.

His fifth-seeded Sun Devils had been outrebounded, 24-11, shot only 29% and trailed, 31-27, at halftime against Manhattan on Saturday.

“I thought if we played better, made the adjustments, we could win this basketball game,” Frieder said. “That was the whole thing. Control the rebounding . . . and solve the half-court offensive problems.”

Arizona State (24-8) responded by grabbing 15 offensive rebounds in the second half and defeated 13th-seeded Manhattan, 64-54. The victory puts the Sun Devils into the regional semifinals for the first time since 1975. They will play top-seeded Kentucky at Birmingham, Ala.

Frieder started 6-foot-9 James Bacon in the second half and took advantage of Manhattan’s double- and triple-teaming of Mario Bennett. Bacon got five rebounds and Bennett grabbed nine of his final total of 12.

“I thought that was a backbreaker,” Manhattan Coach Fran Fraschilla said of Frieder’s move. “He should get credit for starting Bacon in the second half. I think he gave them a fresh body.”

Manhattan (26-5) led by as many as 11 points in the first half. But the Jaspers opened the second half with five fouls in five minutes and made only three shots in the first 12 minutes.

Bennett, who finished with 17 points, put Arizona State ahead to stay with eight consecutive points, the last giving the Sun Devils a 41-38 edge at 12:33.

Manhattan didn’t quit. Ron Riley threw a pass to Bennett out of bounds, then Justin Phoenix dunked the ball off a long inbounds pass, pulling the Jaspers to within 53-48 with 4:34 left.

Riley led Arizona State with 21 points, and grabbed seven rebounds. Arizona State shot only 33%.

Heshimu Evans scored 14 points for the Jaspers, and Phoenix and Keaton Hyman had 10 each. The Jaspers, in their first tournament appearance since 1958, shot 37%.

Fraschilla said a couple of scoring droughts in the second half hurt his team. Manhattan also wearied late against Bacon and Bennett.