Desmond Cambridge propels ASU to a Pac-12 quarterfinal win over No. 3 USC

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 gives the Sun Devils a berth in the semifinal opposite rival and No. 2 seed Arizona. That game will tip off at 9:30 p.m.

The first semifinal is slated for 7 p.m. and will pit No. 1 UCLA against No. 4 Oregon.

"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."

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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, 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.

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"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, too.

"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.

Now the Sun Devils will focus on their rival. The teams split games during the regular season and the ending of the last has not been forgotten. That was an 89-88 win at McKale Center in which the difference was a desperation 3-pointer by Cambridge from more than half-court at the buzzer.

"So there's a lot of things that we're going to have to do in order to have some success tomorrow night. But it's what you live for. To be in the semifinals of a tournament like this with the teams that are still left, we feel like (we're) blessed and just can't wait for the opportunity," Hurley said.

In the other Pac-12 quarterfinals:

• No. 1 UCLA turned back No. 9 Colorado 80-69 behind the 26 points of Amari Bailey. The Bruins (28-4) also got 11 points and 10 rebounds from center Adem Bona. The game was closer than the score might indicate as UCLA only led 69-65 with 2:02 left. Colorado coach Tad Boyle was ejected after drawing two technical fouls with 54 seconds left and Tyger Campbell made all four free throws as the result.

• No. 4 Oregon got 16 points and 11 rebounds from N'Faly Dante in surging past No. 5 Washington State 75-70. The Ducks' victory stopped a six-game Cougar win streak. The Cougars (17-16) got 19 points, four rebounds and five assists from T.J. Bamba.

• No. 2 Arizona (26-6) got past No. 10 Stanford 95-84 in the third quarterfinal of the night. Oumar Ballo led the offensive barrage with 24 points while Cedric Henderson and Azuolas Tubelis added 23 and 20 respectively. Spencer Jones chalked up a team-high 22 points with even rebounds for the Cardinal (14-19).

• In other Pac-12 news, less than 24 hours after his team's exit from the tournament Cal fired head coach Mark Fox. The Bears were just 3-29 overall and 2-18 in Pac-12 play the past season. In three years under Fox, the Bears were just 38-87.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Desmond Cambridge propels ASU to Pac-12 quarterfinal win over USC