Arizona State upsets 3-seed USC in Pac-12 quarterfinals

Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit six of Arizona State's 14 3-pointers and scored 27 points as the sixth-seeded Sun Devils upset USC, the No. 3 seed, 77-72 in a Pac-12 Conference tournament quarterfinal on Thursday night.

The Sun Devils (22-11) will face Arizona in the second of Friday's semifinal. Arizona State stunned the Wildcats on a 60-foot shot at the buzzer by Cambridge February 25 in Tucson.

Cambridge opened the game by hitting from beyond the arc and, after adding a jumper, DJ Horne followed suit to give the Sun Devils a quick, 8-0 lead they never relinquished. The lead reached 15 points after an 8-0 run capped by a Cambridge 3 that made it 36-21 and Arizona State held a 39-25 lead at intermission.

USC cut its deficit to single digits midway through the second half after Drew Peterson hit a pair of free throws to make it 52-43 but Duke Brennan answered with a layup that pushed it back to double digits. Cambridge and Alonzo Gaffney hit back-to-back 3s to make it 66-50 with 6:40 left. The Trojans made a late run with a three-point play by Kobe Johnson, a Joshua Morgan free throw and a Reese Dixon-Waters jumper to make it 67-60 with 2:22 left. Drew Peterson, Johnson and Tre White each hit 3-pointers in the final 30 seconds to get within four, 74-70 with 13 seconds left, but got no closer.

Arizona State had 23 made baskets on 59 attempts, but 14 of those baskets came from long range. Horne was 2 of 7 from deep and finished with 16 points and Devan Cambridge was 2-of-2 from deep to add 11 points.

White and Dixon-Waters each finished with 16 points to lead USC (22-10). Johnson and Boogie Ellis each added 15 points.

Read more
f

We and our partners use cookies to understand how you use our site, improve your experience and serve you personalized content and advertising. Read about how we use cookies in our cookie policy and how you can control them by clicking Manage Settings. By continuing to use this site, you accept these cookies.