ASU'S Season of Woe Continues WIth Lousy Home Loss To Washington

Last night's highlight of ASU's basketball game against Washington at Wells Fargo Arena didn't come during the 40 minutes of play, which should give readers an idea of the outcome. The best part of an otherwise forgettable evening came during halftime of the Sun Devils' 60-54 loss to the Huskies...

By Paul Rubin

January 27, 2012

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Last night's highlight of ASU's basketball game against Washington at Wells Fargo Arena didn't come during the 40 minutes of play, which should give readers an idea of the outcome.

The best part of an otherwise forgettable evening came during halftime of the Sun Devils' 60-54 loss to the Huskies in a game that defined the word ugly

it was during the break that ASU honored Lafayette "Fat" Lever by hanging a banner with his name and number (12) in the rafters, joining Jumpin' Joe Caldwell, his teammate Byron Scott and Lionel Hollins.

Lever, who wasn't and isn't "fat," played for the Sun Devils for four strong years that ended in 1982. Earlier, we had seen him play down in Tucson for Pueblo High School and always rued the day (as an Arizona Wildcat grad) that he chose to play for the Tempe school rather than stay home.

Lever went on to a stellar pro career, and was one of the NBA's best point guards fro several years in the 1980s. These days he works for the Sacramento Kings as the director of player development.

Lever stayed around to see the Sun Devils drop to 6-14 overall, and 2-6 in the Pac-12. Washington, which is pretty good, is tied for first in the league with a 6-2 record and is 13-7 overall.

Jonathan Gilling, a true freshman who is getting more playing time than he probably would have because of Keala King's dismissal from the team, scored 20 points to lead the Devils.

But ASU is so thin, so depleted at this critical point in the season, that even managing 54 points offensively was a minor victory of sorts. The Devils again were without their best player and team leader, Trent Lockett, who is still recovering from a bad ankle injury.

ASU returns to the court on Saturday in a 3 p.m. game against Washington State, which was routed down in Tucson last night by the Arizona Wildcats.

The game will be aired on Channel 34 and on KTAR620.

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