SOUTH ROUNDUP

On the eve of Arizona State’s first NCAA tournament game since 2003, James Harden had teammates laughing when he teased junior point guard Derek Glasser about being reluctant to shoot.

So when Harden had trouble getting going Friday against Temple, guess who came to the rescue?

Glasser scored a career-high 22 points, and the Sun Devils overcame a second consecutive subpar performance by Harden to beat the Owls, 66-57, in a South Regional first-round game at Miami.

“It was one of those games where my shot wasn’t falling,” said Harden, the Pacific 10 Conference player of the year. “My teammates picked it up, definitely -- Derek throughout the entire game.”

Harden scored nine points, less than half his average. Although he made only one shot, it was a big one: a three-point shot with 4:02 left that helped to squelch a Temple comeback.

Glasser made four of five three-point shots as Arizona State (25-9) reached the 25-victory milestone for the first time since 1975.

Senior guard Dionte Christmas scored 29 points for the Owls (22-12), who haven’t won a tournament game since 2001.

No. 3 Syracuse 59, No. 14 Stephen F. Austin 44 -- The Orange (27-9) ran out to a 20-4 lead to flatten the overmatched Southland Conference champions at Miami. The Lumberjacks (24-8) missed 12 of their first 13 shots, started 0 for 15 on three-point shots and trailed by 26 points in the second half.