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

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Desmond Cambridge Jr. puts exclamation mark on Arizona State's win

Desmond Cambridge Jr. throws down a huge dunk in the final minute of Arizona State's win over USC.

Mar 10, 2023, 07:33 am

LAS VEGAS -- — 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.

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