Beschwerden » important.The Union are enjoying a recent inf

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Torian Graham scored 22 points and Shannon Evans II had 21 to lift Arizona State to an 80-71 victory over Tulane in the losers bracket of the Tire Pros Invitational.Sam Cunliffe scored 10 for the Sun Devils who pulled away from Tulane in the final seven minutes to improve to 3-1. ASU lost its first game in the tournament by 19 points to Northern Iowa.We showed up ready to play today, ASU Coach Bobby Hurley said. I dont want to make excuses, but that game (Northern Iowa) wasnt our best effort. We were lethargic the whole time. I thought we were much more aggressive defensively and when a couple of shots fell, we settled down to play pretty good offensively.Tulane (1-3) got 22 points from Melvin Frazier Jr. and 17 from Cameron Reynolds, but the Green Wave offense fizzled in the final seven minutes when the game was still within reach.We had a nice run where we got defensive stops and were taking our time on offense, Reynolds said. But as soon as we started rushing things, we let them push it back at us and didnt defend like we should.ASU had an 11-point lead at halftime, but couldnt shake the Green Wave until late in the second half.Tulane found some room taking the ball to the basket against ASUs man-to-man defense and cut their deficit to just 61-58 when Von Julien scored on a driving layup with 7:02 left in the game.ASU center Ramon Villa woke up the Devils offense with a follow-shot jam and Graham scored five straight points to push the lead back to a more comfortable 68-58 with just under five minutes left.The Green Wave never got closer than seven the rest of the game.BIG PICTUREArizona State: The Sun Devils were basically a no-show in its first game of the tournament, losing 82-63 to Northern Iowa, so the win over Tulane was a huge lift. The game against Northern Iowa didnt feel good at all, Graham said. We were much better at executing today. It feels good to come back and get a victory after the way we played.Tulane: Green Wave coach Mike Dunleavy was impressed with his teams effort as well. In that second half, we ran some nice sets, but they hit some shots at crucial times and that was the difference, Dunleavy said. Our guys played hard, but we missed some shots at the rim and they hit at the other end.THREE INSTEAD OF TWOTulane was six of 14 on 3-pointers in the first half, but only 2 of 9 from inside the arc. Cameron Reynolds, who missed his first five shots, hit three straight 3-pointers in a 2-minute stretch late in the half.UP NEXTArizona State will play Davidson Sunday in the fifth place game.Tulane, which has lost twice in the tournament, will play Missouri in the seventh place game Sunday. Darius Leonard Colts Jersey . Here are his mid-season NBA awards. MVP: (KEVIN DURANT-Thunder) - Has been sensational this season and more importantly, the most consistent player in the league. 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The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. The New England Revolution advanced to the U.S. Open Cup final with a big win over the Chicago Fire on Tuesday and are hoping to build off that momentum, as they take aim at the MLS playoffs, beginning with Saturdays home game against the Philadelphia Union.The Revolution (6-9-8) sit just above the red line, in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 26 points. New England is five points behind the fifth-place Union (8-8-7).Kei Kamara, Je-Vaughn Watson and Teal Bunbury scored for New England in its 3-1 victory over the Fire in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal. The Revolution will face FC Dallas in the final at a date yet to be announced.We have to use it as stepping stone, as a platform to really boost ourselves, New England coach Jay Heaps told the teams website. Right now, were in a fight for the playoffs. And they start now. Every game that we play at home is that much more important.The Union are enjoying a recent influx of talent, including Charlie Davies, who spent the last three seasons in New England. Davies joined Philadelphia recently as did his teammate on tthe U.ddddddddddddS. national team, Alejandro Bedoya, who will make his debut for the Union on Saturday.Philadelphia leads the all-time series with New England 8-5-4 and has the statistical edge on the offensive side of the pitch. The Union scored 38 goals, third-most in the MLS. The Revolution surrendered 40 goals, tied with New York City FC for the most in the league.But the Union will not be at full strength. Midfielder and captain Brian Carroll suffered a torn plantar fasciitis last week and is expected to miss four-to-seven weeks. His absence will be felt, when trying to slow down Kamara, New Englands leading-scorer with nine goals.Chris Pontius leads the Union with nine goals.The two teams met in open play on July 20, with the Revolution winning on penalty kicks. The Union, however, toppled New England 3-0 early in the MLS regular season.This will be the last meeting of the regular season between the two Eastern Conference rivals. ' ' '