Edwards, Martin spark Arizona State past Stanford, 80-62

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Rob Edwards and Remy Martin scored 16 points each, leading Arizona State to an 80-62 win over Stanford Wednesday night.

The Sun Devils (18-8 overall, 9-5 Pac-12) earned a key conference win with only one of their final four regular-season games left at home. They have alternated wins and losses in their last seven games.

Stanford (14-12, 7-7) entered having won five of its last six games but played without leading scorer and potential NBA draft pick KZ Okpala, who sustained an injury in a recent practice and was held out. The forward is Stanford’s leading scorer at 17.5 points per game.

Josh Sharma’s 17 points led the Cardinal, with 15 points from Oscar Da Silva.

Arizona State led by no less than six in a slow-moving second half, then pulled away with a 3 from Zylan Cheatham and an Edwards jumper with 4:50 to play for a 66-52 lead.

A deep 3 from Edwards as the shot clock expired with 2:07 to play gave Arizona State a 74-60 lead and sealed their win.

The Cardinal missed all 12 3-point tries in the second half. and finished 2 of 20 from long range. After 11-for-23 field goal shooting in the first half, Stanford was a frigid 10-for-33 in the second.

Stanford capped a 7-0 run with Sharma’s dunk to make it 18-15 at the midway point of the first half. But a layup by Luguentz Dort put the Sun Devils back in front, and they held the lead the rest of the half.

Martin’s 3 with 37 seconds left until halftime got the crowd on its feet and gave Arizona State the 42-34 lead they had at halftime.

Sharma had 10 points at halftime. The Sun Devils made were 6 of 13 on 3s in the first half, three for Taeshon Cherry off the bench.

Cherry, however, picked up a Flagrant 2 foul for tripping a Stanford player and was ejected from the game with 11:23 to play in the second half. He finished with 11 points.

The Cardinal had a chance to cut the lead to four early in the second half, down 50-44, but Bryce Wills came up short on a dunk attempt and tweaked an ankle to add injury to insult. He later returned to the game.

BIG PICTURE

STANFORD — The Cardinal play three of its final four regular-season games at home, and of the four, three teams are the bottom three in the Pac-12 standings. With a strong finish, Stanford can possibly get into the top four in the conference going into the Pac-12 Tournament and earn a bye to the quarterfinals, which is beneficial.

ARIZONA STATE — The Sun Devils’ home finale is Sunday, then they end the regular season with three road games. Two are at the Oregon schools, both tough at home, and the last one is at rival Arizona, a test despite the Wildcats’ struggles this season. Staying in top four for a first-round tournament bye is still a strong possibility.UP NEXT

Stanford plays at Arizona on Sunday.

Arizona State hosts California Sunday afternoon._More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25