Perez scores 27, Collins adds 19 to help Arizona State beat Utah 82 70

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Jose Perez scored a season high 27 points, Frankie Collins added 14 of his 19 points in the second half and Arizona State beat Utah 82 70 Thursday night for its third win in a row. Arizona State (9 5, 3 0 Pac 12) lost three games in a row — by an average of 14.6 points — to end its nonconference slate.

Perez hit a 3 pointer to give Arizona State the lead for good with 51 seconds left in the first half and then stole the ball, led the fast break and lobbed a pass to Jamiya Neal for an alley oop layup 21 seconds later that made it 41 36 at halftime. Keba Keita threw down a dunk and Deivon Smith converted a three point play to cap a 7 2 spurt that trimmed Utah's deficit to 48 47 with 13:46 to play but Collins answered 15 seconds later with a 3 pointer, the first of his nine consecutive ASU points as the Sun Devils scored 13 of the next 19.

Collins hit a 3 and Perez added another less than a minute to make it 67 56 with 5:28 to play and Utah trailed by double figures the rest of the way. Branden Carlson scored 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds for Utah (11 3, 2 1), which had won eight games in a row since suffering back to back losses against No.

3 Houston and St. John's at the Charleston Classic in mid November. Smith finished with 13 points. Arizona State plays host to Colorado, and Utah visits No. 10 Arizona, on Saturday ___ Get poll alerts and updates on AP Top 25 basketball throughout the season. ___ AP college basketball: and.