On Friday, Nov. 28, downtown Tempe felt crowded, like Black Friday crowds, with traffic on Mill Avenue blocking entire streets downtown.
Shoppers poured out of stores with shopping bags in hand, a familiar holiday jitters and Arizona sunshine filling the air.
But on the south end of town, Sun Devil Athletics operates entirely differently.
The Arizona Sun Devils have won three games. The women’s basketball game kicked off at 10:30 a.m. at Desert Financial Arena, and a few hours later, Mullett Arena was packed for the ASU hockey game at 3 p.m.
As night fell, the echoes of pucks hitting the glass still hung over Packard Avenue as American Hill Stadium prepared for the 7:00 p.m. football game.
Despite the chaos surrounding Tempe, head coach Greg Bowles and the Sun Devils defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes 3-2 in overtime.
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“This was a gritty, gutsy win for us,” Bowles said. “I felt like we deserved it. I felt like we did a lot of really good things tonight. We just couldn’t seem to score.”
The Sun Devils, now riding a two-game winning streak to 6-8-1 after splitting their series with the third-place Denver Trail Blazers last weekend, are hoping the holiday weekend will be a turning point in the season.
Sun Devils beat Buckeyes 3-2 in overtime
The Buckeyes got things started early in Friday’s game, getting a clean finish from senior winger Davis Burnside of Scottsdale, Ariz., less than five minutes into the game.
Burnside’s clean beat of ASU senior goaltender Connor Hasley on the rush gave Ohio State a quick 1-0 lead and set the tone for Mullett.
Arizona State responded before the end of the first quarter. On the power play, 2025 first-round draft pick Cullen Potter hit a quick shot in traffic to tie the game at 1-1.
The goal extended Porter’s scoring streak to three games, and the 18-year-old has 11 points in 15 games this season.
“He’s been playing really well,” Bowles said. “It’s just starting for him now and things are starting to happen on the scoresheet. We’re not going to put pressure on our guys. They just have to play the right way, play hard and do the right things.”
Buckeyes captain Burnside made his second of the afternoon midway through the first half, again slipping into space on a turnover and beating Hasley to give Ohio State a 2-1 lead.
The Sun Devils trailed entering the third quarter. Oddly enough, Bowles’ team usually leads going into the third quarter.
After both teams got into the paint, sophomore winger Noah Powell tied the game with a goal with 7:03 left in the third quarter.
“Just trying to put the puck in the net,” Bowles said. “That’s what we told him in the second quarter. It’s a really good shot and it’s going to go in a lot more than you think.”
The game then went into overtime, where Porter found Cruz Lucius in the desert for the winner.
“It’s kind of hard because you don’t know if you want to be selfless,” Lucius said. “I just saw the five holes were a little empty and just hit it as hard as I could out there.”
Arizona State returns to Mallett tomorrow, November 29th at 5:00 PM, looking to avoid the chaos surrounding them on Black Friday as they look to get back to their winning ways before the holidays.
“I think all of our games, even our losses, we’ve been there,” Lucius said. “I think the biggest thing is, finding a way to get in the back of the net. It’s about being confident and coming together as a team, even when we’re down.”
