Pac-12 basketball: Arizona State holds off Rhode Island; Oregon State beats Cal

Remy Martin scored 26 points and freshman Marcus Bagley made three key free throws in the final minute to lead No. 18 Arizona State to a 94-88 win over Rhode Island in the Empire Classic on Wednesday night.

Bagley added 16 points while Taeshon Cherry, Josh Christopher and Holland Woods added 11 apiece in a game that featured 81 combined free throws, 55 fouls and two technicals.

Chris Osten’s three-point play with 2:59 left gave the Sun Devils the lead for good at 89-86.

Jeremy Sheppard and Georgetown transfer Antawn Walker led Rhode Island with 19 points apiece.

Walker scored 14 straight points for the Rams early in the second half. His 3-pointer with 12:33 left gave Rhode Island a 67-64 lead, helping the Rams erase what was once a 16-point deficit.

Arizona State used a 16-3 run midway through the first half to turn a 16-13 lead into a 32-16 advantage. The Sun Devils led by as many as 16 before Rhode Island cut it to 48-41 by halftime.

ASU’s opponent was supposed to be No. 2 Baylor until learning that coach Scott Drew contracted COVID-19 and began a mandatory quarantine.

Oregon State 71, California 63

Warith Alatishe scored 16 points, Ethan Thompson added 15 and Oregon State opened the season with a 71-63 win over Pac-12 rival California in what counts as a nonconference game on Wednesday.

The matchup materialized because of the COVID-19 scramble when Colorado State was unable to play in the four-team pod. Northwest University is the fourth team and will play the Pac-12 teams over the next two days.

Zach Reichle and Jarod Lucas scored 11 points apiece for the Beavers who are now 7-0 in openers under coach Wayne Tinkle. Tinkle picked up his 94th win, tied for fourth in school history.

Matt Bradley led the Golden Bears with 21 points.

Oregon State took the lead for good with a 9-0 run that made it 27-20 with just under five minutes to go in the first half. It was 36-31 at the break.

An 8-0 surge midway through the second half pushed the lead to 57-43 but the Bears rallied with a 10-2 surge to get within 67-62 with 1:38 to go. However Lucas and Reichle both made a pair of free throws to seal the win.

Cal and Oregon State will clash twice more this season, Jan. 2 in Corvallis and Feb. 25 in Berkeley.

The last nonconference game between the schools, not counting conference tournament matchups, came in the 1987 NIT. The teams’ last regular season nonconference meeting came at the 1984 Far West Classic in Portland, Ore.

Colorado 84, South Dakota 61

McKinley Wright IV scored 16 points in the first half and finished with 20 on 8-of-12 shooting to help Colorado open the season with an 84-61 win over South Dakota on Wednesday night in the Little Apple Classic.

Colorado had three players finish with double-digit scoring off the bench. Keeshawn Barthelemy and Jeriah Horne added 11 points each and Jabari Walker scored 10. Wright handed out six assists.

Colorado missed its first five 3-point attempts but finished the game 10 of 25 from the arc. Barthelemy and Eli Parquet hit back-to-back 3s late in the first half to make it 45-25, Colorado’s largest lead before the break.

The Buffaloes led by at least 13 throughout the second half and Horne’s 3-pointer with 8:51 left in the game gave them their largest lead at 73-48.

Stanley Umude scored 24 points to lead the Coyotes and Ty Chisom added 12 points and nine rebounds.

Colorado plays Friday against host Kansas State, which lost to Drake 80-70 on Wednesday. South Dakota will face Drake on Friday.

Washington State 56, Texas Southern 52

Isaac Bonton scored 21 of his 28 points in the second half to rally Washington State past Texas Southern for a 56-52 win in the season opener for both teams on Wednesday night.

Bonton scored 16 points during the Cougars’ 19-3 run to take a 50-42 lead with 5:15 left in the game.

Texas Southern answered with with eight straight points to tie it at 50 and tied it again at 52 with 1:01 left in the game.

Aljaz Kunc made a pair of free throws that gave the Cougars a 54-52 lead with 28 seconds left and Bonton made two more foul shots for Washington State to cap the scoring with 10 seconds to go.

Kunc added 11 points and Efe Abogidi in his college debut had nine points and eight rebounds for Washington State with nine points and six rebounds in the first half.

Texas A&M transfer John Walker III, Galen Alexander and Michael Weathers each scored 10 for Texas Southern.

About four hours before tipoff, Washington State announced on Twitter that coach Kyle Smith, who previously tested positive for COVID-19, had completed his 10-day isolation period and would be on the bench for the game.

USC 95, Cal Baptist 87, OT