Arizona State defeats UCLA, advances to Pac-12 Tournament semifinals
Mar 14, 2019, 9:09 PM
Arizona State's Rob Edwards, left, and Kimani Lawrence celebrate after Lawrence scored a 3-point shot against UCLA during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 men's tournament Thursday, March 14, 2019, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
(AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS — Romello White scored 19 points, Rob Edwards added 15 and Arizona State withstood UCLA’s second-half push for an 83-72 victory in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.
The second-seeded Sun Devils (22-9) dominated the first half and stretched their lead to 23 early in the second, but let UCLA back in it by going nearly nine minutes without a field goal.
Arizona State settled itself after the long drought and held off the Bruins to earn a spot in Friday’s semifinals against Oregon or Utah. Zylan Cheatham had 13 points and 13 rebounds, and the Sun Devils shot 49 percent.
Seventh-seeded UCLA (17-16) looked sluggish early after playing the night before, but used a big run to trim into Arizona State’s lead to nine.
Kris Wilkes keyed the second-half run, scoring 17 of his 25 points in the final 20 minutes, but the Bruins were never able to make it back from the big early hole. Jaylen Hands added 21 points for UCLA.
The Sun Devils had some head-scratching losses during the regular season, including at home against Washington State. Arizona State closed the season strong, though, five of its final six games to earn the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.
UCLA looked like it was going to cruise into the quarterfinals, building a 26-point lead against Stanford, but allowed the Cardinal to creep back into it before winning 79-72.
The Bruins opened the quarterfinal game casting too many long range shots and fell into an eight-point hole. UCLA worked its inside-out game to cut into the lead, but went cold again as Arizona State closed the first half on a 14-0 run.
Kimani Lawrence capped the run by fumbling the ball, gathering it up again and hitting an off-balance 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Sun Devils up 45-29.
Arizona State kept humming to start the second half, hitting five of its first seven shots to push the lead to 23.
But then UCLA picked up its defensive intensity and had a better rhythm to its offense, using a 13-0 run to pull within 59-49.
Arizona State broke its long field goal-less stretch when UCLA was called for goal tending on Cheatham’s drive — a shot that had no chance of going in — and another goaltend on White’s jump hook put the Sun Devils up 72-58 with five minutes left.
BIG PICTURE
UCLA made a big run after an awful first half, but ran out of gas down the stretch.
Arizona State played well at the start and the finish to add another notch to its NCAA Tournament resume.
UP NEXT
UCLA may get an invite to a smaller postseason tournament.
Arizona State plays the winner between Oregon and Utah in the semifinals.
