Freshman Joson Sanon made five 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 21 points to lead Arizona State to an 87-76 victory over Grand Canyon on Thursday night at Phoenix.
Arizona State (3-1) has won three consecutive games against local rival Grand Canyon (2-1) over the last five seasons.
Sanon made 8 of 12 shots from the field, 5 of 7 from the beyond the 3-point arc.
Arizona State’s Basheer Jihad, a Ball State transfer, made 4 of 5 shots from the field while going 9 of 11 at the free-throw line to finish with 18 points.
Jihad finished with five assists, matching Alston Mason, who scored 16 points.
Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster, coming off two heart surgeries in recent years, played his first game of the season after sitting out while trying to reach a desirable strength and stamina in his legs.
He finished with 19 points and seven rebounds but also committed five turnovers.
The Lopes’ JaKobe Coles had 17 while making all six of his field-goal attempts, including all three from 3-point range. Ray Harrison finished with 15 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Sanon made two 3-pointers in the last 1:42 in the half to help the Sun Devils take a 41-40 lead into halftime.
Arizona State outscored Grand Canyon 10-2 to take a 53-45 lead with 15:58 left.
The Lopes responded by scoring the game’s next seven points, cutting the gap to one with 13:34 remaining.
The Sun Devils then went on an 8-0 run behind five points from Mason and another 3-pointer by Sanon.
A Grant-Foster layup followed by a steal and layup by Williams was answered by two quick baskets by Jihad and Mason as Arizona State led 71-60 with 7:42 left.
After a Coles 3-pointer with 4:16 remaining cut the Lopes’ deficit to 76-69, Arizona State outscored the Antelopes 7-2 to build a 12-point margin with 2:40 left.
Jihad had a three-point play and made two more free throws and Mason sank two foul shots over the last 3:55 to help seal the victory.
Grand Canyon was 17 of 25 at the free-throw line while Arizona State was 18 of 21.
The Sun Devils shot 53.7 percent from the field while making 11 3-pointers. The Lopes hit 44.1 percent from the floor and sank seven treys.
