Late Marreon Jackson bucket pushes Arizona State past Utah

It’s not how you start, but how you finish.

The Arizona State Sun Devils escaped Salt Lake City on Saturday night with a 63-61 victory over the Utah Utes.

ASU can thank this final sequence of basketball after the Sun Devils watched their 10-point lead evaporate in the last five minutes:

WALK IT OFF, MARREON.@Marreon_Jackson for the win 😈 pic.twitter.com/OCluzqcqDg

— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) February 27, 2022

Arizona State guard Marreon Jackson’s game-winning layup was just his second bucket on the night. He finished with four points on 2-of-9 shooting, including 0-for-6 from 3.

ASU led by as much as 14 points in the second half, but a cold streak at the 5:45 mark saw the Sun Devils stuck at 59 points until 48 seconds were left in the ballgame.

Jay Heath hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points on 7-of-11 shooting and Jalen Graham scored 15 points for Arizona State (12-16, 8-10 Pac-12). Kimani Lawrence and Luther Muhammad added 10 points apiece.

Heath hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give ASU a 58-45 lead with 7:24 to play, but Utah (11-18, 4-15) scored 14 of the next 15 points to make it 59-59 when Branden Carlson hit a 3 with 1:14 to play.

Graham made two free throws to put the Sun Devils back in front, and Marco Anthony threw down a tying dunk with 28 seconds left before Jackson drove the left side of the lane and made a contested layup to cap the scoring with 6.2 seconds to go.

Rollie Worster missed a potential tying jumper in the closing seconds. Anthony led Utah with 19 points and Carlson scored 15.

EXTRA PASSES

– Arizona State guard D.J. Horne didn’t play due to a non-COVID-19-related illness.

– Sun Devils forward Kimani Lawrence earned his 133rd career appearance on Saturday night, the most in program history.

UP NEXT

ASU hosts California on Thursday at 6 p.m. on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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