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LAS VEGAS (AP) — As a freshman, Arizona State's Kimani Lawrence made three 3-pointers.
Monday night, the sophomore drained three from long range — part of a 22-point performance — including the game winner with 33 seconds, to lead the Sun Devils to a 72-67 victory over No. 15 Mississippi State in the heavyweight bracket of the MGM Main Event.
"I've completely reconstructed my shot, from the base, to the release, to getting it all in one motion, I've worked really hard for it," said Lawrence, who is 9 of 19 from 3-point range through the first four games of the season. "Credit to Remy (Martin) to trusting me. He hit me, I hit the shot. Stepped up, made a big-time play for the team, for the program."
Luguentz Dort added 17 points and nine rebounds, while Remy Martin scored 16 for the Sun Devils, who will meet Utah State in the championship game on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs, who will face Saint Mary's in the consolation game, were led by Aric Holman with 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Arizona State, which climbed as high as No. 3 after opening last season 12-0, improved to 4-0, while handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season (3-1).
This year, the Sun Devils have scrapped the fast-paced, up-tempo style that saw them average 95.6 points after their first six games, to a blue-collar approach that includes a physicality that baffled Mississippi State. This season, thus far, the Sun Devils are averaging 86 points per game, and outrebounding teams, 51-34.
"It's been a drastic change from last year; we were a fun, free-flowing team that could hit the deep 3s, and I had guards that could attack the lane, and we played a lot of small ball," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said. "This year it's like the polar opposite of that. We talked about guys wanting to rebound, and you're not gonna find a team that's more imposing physically at all positions. For us to outrebound them is a statement to how physical we were."
The Sun Devils held off a second-half rally by Mississippi State, which tied the game at 65 when Nick Weatherspoon drained a long-range jumper just inside the 3-point line with one minute left in the game.
"They have great size, they're very physical, they played big — which is difficult for us — I thought they just pounded us," Mississippi State coach Ben Howland said. "They're a very good team. I was really happy with the way we fought and came back in the second half after getting smashed in the mouth in the first half. We made a defensive mistake and came off (Lawrence) in the corner and we weren't supposed to and he hit the 3."
Trailing by 15 at halftime, Mississippi State came out of the locker room firing, as it opened the second half on a 10-0 run and hit five 3-pointers during a 19-10 spurt to cut the lead to 49-43.
The Bulldogs shot 15 of 36 (41.7 percent) from the floor in the second half.
Arizona State outrebounded the Bulldogs 27-12 in the first half, including 10 on the offensive glass, and scored 14 second-chance points en route to a 39-24 halftime lead.
In the early game, Neemias Queta had 24 points, nine rebounds and five blocks and Utah State beat Saint Mary's 80-63.
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