Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis wins game at buzzer against Arizona State
Jan 21, 2021, 9:25 PM | Updated: 10:23 pm
Arizona forward Azuolas Tubelis (10) shoots over Eastern Washington guard Kim Aiken Jr. during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
It was a fitting end to a strange, clunky game.
With Arizona State and rival Arizona tied at 82 and under 35 seconds left, Sun Devils guard Remy Martin missed a layup with nine seconds left. The Wildcats had no timeouts, so Arizona’s James Akinjo pushed the ball and forced a terrible shot with two seconds left. The shot, though, was so bad that it was more of a pass right to Arizona’s Azuolas Tubelis.
Tubelis caught the shot in mid-air, softly put it in the basket and the Wildcats won 84-82 at the buzzer in Tempe.
What a finish and what a win for Arizona at ASU pic.twitter.com/qrFSKE09ie
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) January 22, 2021
A messy first half saw both teams combine for 17 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. In the second half, Arizona couldn’t stop fouling, which allowed Arizona State to shoot 18-of-21 from the foul line in that half alone.
That was enough to make up for the Sun Devils’ struggles offensively, but a six-point lead with under five minutes to go for ASU was answered by Arizona. That had the game close enough to have it arrive at its climax.
Akinjo led all scorers with 24 points while Martin had 18 for the Sun Devils.
