Desmond Cambridge lifts ASU past USC
Sun Devils’ Pac-12 tourney win helps NCAA chances
LAS VEGAS — Desmond Cambridge Jr. was just 8-for-37 from the field in the previous three games but a pep talk with teammate Alonzo Gaffney got him pumped up as the Sun Devils prepared to square off against USC in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Arena.
Gaffney’s message worked as Cambridge scored a season-high 27 points, grabbed seven rebounds with two steals to lead ASU to a 77-72 win that gave the Sun Devils a berth in the semifinal opposite No. 2 seed Arizona late Friday night.
The rivals split two games during the regular season, and the ending of the last has not been forgotten. That was an 8988 win at McKale Center in which the difference was a desperation 3-pointer by Cambridge from more than half-court at the buzzer.
“Confidence. Last night I was talking to Alonzo Gaffney just about the game (against Oregon State) yesterday,” Cambridge said. “He told me one thing that I needed to hear and that was just be confident in myself. I kept second-guessing a lot of my shots, a lot of my decisions. When your teammates believe in you, like sometimes that’s all you need. I know I have confidence in myself and, yeah, when your teammates also have that confidence in you, you feel like nothing can stop you.”
The win avenged a 68-65 loss to the Trojans in the regular season finale in Los Angeles five days ago.
More importantly, it enhances the Sun Devils’ chances of advancing to the NCAA postseason. Going into this game USC had been projected as a “last four in” team while ASU had been slotted among the “first four out” schools.
It marked a fifth Quad one win for ASU, with that metric used in assessing a team’s postseason worthiness. ASU is also now 5-0 at neutral sites, while the
win also marked the team’s 12th road win.
It was a good all-around effort for ASU which also got 16 points from Horne and 11 from Devan Cambridge. For the second time in as many nights, coach Bobby Hurley also got quality play from his bench, most notably sophomore guard Jamiya Neal.
ASU shot 41.8% (23-for-59), a significant improvement over the last time the teams played it and shot just 29.2%.
“Obviously Des had a big night shooting the basketball and putting a big number out there, but he was doing everything, diving on the floor and calling timeouts, and everybody across the board was just so active with our offensive rebounding and second-chance points,” Hurley said. “So our bench was excellent.”
The Sun Devils never trailed. The first half ended with ASU (22-11) up 39-25, with Horne and Cambridge combining for 21 points. The biggest ASU lead over the first 20 minutes lead came with 2:14 left after a 3-pointer by Cambridge put
the underdogs on top 36-21.
“Honestly, in the first half, they wanted it more than us,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “We came out flat. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. They just wanted it more than us tonight. That’s my job as a leader to get the guys going and I didn’t do a great job of that. So it’s just effort. But, I mean, we fought better in the second half, but the first half we can’t play like that and expect to win this basketball game.”
That lead would grow to 17 on a bucket by Cambridge that made it 44-27 in the opening minutes of the second half.
But the Sun Devils have not had a lot of blowout wins and this didn’t turn out to be one, either.
ASU’s last double-digit lead came at 67-57 with 4:50 left. The Trojans inched their way back aided by some long-distance shots and errant ASU free throws. ASU was 6-for-10 from the line in the last minute.
A 3-pointer by Kobe Johnson cut the ASU lead to 72-67 with 18 seconds left and one by Tre White cut it to 74-70 with 12 to go.
With 8 seconds left Horne made one of two tries and a tie-up was called on the miss. ASU got the ball on the alternate possession and the Sun Devils hung on from there.
Yes, there was a sense of urgency with the Sun Devils needing a victory to keep their postseason hope alive. The fact that the two brothers’ number of games playing together is nearing its end has set in.
“I’m not going to lie, it puts a lot of pressure on you, man. God gives his toughest battles to his toughest soldiers, and I go by that saying,” Desmond said. “Literally, if you weren’t capable of doing something spectacular, I don’t feel like you would be put in a position to play a team like Arizona in a semifinal championship like this. It’s big moments that we live for, we put in the work for this, we deserve to be here, and we’re just going to continue to show that.”
Both teams were without a key player. In the case of USC, it was 7-foot-1 freshman Vincent Iwuchukwu (back), who also missed the regular season finale between the teams. Meanwhile, ASU true freshman guard Austin Nunez missed his fifth straight game with a concussion sustained in the win over Utah on Feb. 18.
Arizona holds off Stanford
Oumar Ballo scored 24 points and No. 8 Arizona broke away late, beating Stanford 95-84 Thursday night to give Tommy Lloyd his 59th win at UA, the most victories in a coach’s first two seasons. Former North Carolina coach Bill Guthridge held the previous mark.
Lloyd also improved his record in Las Vegas with the Wildcats to 7-0, including 6-0 at T-Mobile Arena. They are the defending tournament champions.
Cedric Henderson Jr. had 23 points and Azuolas Tubelis added 20 for the Wildcats (26-6). Courtney Ramey chipped in 15 points for Arizona, which used a 12-2 run to take a 92-78 lead. Spencer Jones led Stanford (14-19) with 22 points.