Arizona State scored four second-half tries, two by Alex Sandstrom, to defeated Arizona 34-15 Sunday in PAC Rugby Conference action.

The Sun Devils moved to 1-1 in conference play with the victory, a much-improved performance if giving up 100 against Cal last week, when Head Coach Gary Lane ran in the subs early.

“We weren’t competitive against Cal,” said Lane, choosing not to go into his team’s travel issues getting to the game. “We knew the game wasn’t reflective of what our team could do. But so far we’ve played some of the top teams in the county, and they’ve beaten us, but we’ve learned and we’re better for it.”

The teams were very competitive in the first half, with Arizona State riding two Keenan Mayfield penalty kicks to a 6-3 lead. Arizona’s sole points came from the boot of Kyle Rogers. But in the second half, ASU surged.

“Our attitude was completely different this week [compared to last],” said Lane. “We prepared with a bit more gusto. Arizona and Arizona State are competitors at everything, and we worked to play to our strengths and shut down what Arizona wanted to do.”

So they did, holding the Wildcat pick-and-jam game in check and, thanks to a strong performance by the Sun Devil back row, corralled their wide game.

In the second half, with Nick Howard ramping up his game and Mayfield hitting his kicks, they exploded for 29 points. Sandstrom scored two, while his brother, Adam, helped set up several scored. Howard and Trevor Cucci also touched down, while Mayfield converted one and added two penalties.

Arizona got two tries, from flanker Matt Tomasetti and lock Vinny Tackanin, with Rogers converting one. But it was the Sun Devils’ day.

“We have a very young team,” said Arizona Head Coach Sean Duffy, whose squad was coming off a defeat of Wyoming in Las Vegas. “We take two steps forward and one step back. We have really good players, but they’re new to college rugby and what it requires. This is a great competition for us to be in, because we’ll learn fast.”

Arizona hosts UCLA next week, and Arizona State does the same a week later.

Here are the latest updated PAC Rugby Conference standings: