Arizona State overcomes 16-point deficit to complete sweep in Oregon

Arizona State battled back from a 16-point first-half deficit to defeat Oregon State 74-69 on Saturday afternoon to complete the Beaver State sweep.

The Sun Devils (15-3) improve to 6-1 in Pac-12 play to set up a matchup with No. 7 UCLA (16-2, 7-0) for first place in the conference standings next week in Tempe.

“We have three true conference road wins, we’re 3-0 on the road, which is great,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters postgame.

“You can’t ask for a whole lot more and I think it amps up the magnitude of Thursday’s game certainly. Kind of want to enjoy this one and road sweeps are rare in our league and we’re able to get one here this week and then we will get ready for Thursday.”

ASU had a slow start in Corvallis, only making one of its first 10 attempts from the floor, while OSU (7-11, 1-6) jumped out to a 34-18 lead.

But Arizona State turned on the clamps with some full-court pressing and closed out the first half on a 21-8 run to make it only a three-point halftime deficit at 42-39.

At one point during the contest, Oregon State missed 15 of its last 16 attempts and went nearly five minutes without making a single field goal in the second half.

“We were missing layups, we missed some foul shots, it was a little bit of everything in the first half,” Hurley said. “But we were just close in the deficit that way, had the game within striking range. We picked up our level of intensity defensively and we played cleaner on offense.

“We got down a significant margin really early, so there was still a lot of basketball left to be played so that kind of makes it a little bit easier, he added. “I touched on it, we picked up our intensity and our activity on defense through our press and I think that woke our guys up. We were not moving at the same pace Oregon State was through the first eight minutes of the game.”

As a team, the Sun Devils shot 49% from the field, including 8-for-18 from three-point range (44%) and 67% from the free throw line (18-of-27).

Arizona State was once again led by the Cambridge brothers, with Desmond leading all scorers with 21 points — his second consecutive 20-plus point game — and Devan adding 13 more.

Back-to-back 20 pieces from @dezcambridgejr pic.twitter.com/SNfs69oX9e

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) January 14, 2023

ASU also got key contributions from guards Frankie Collins and D.J. Horne, who scored 12 and nine points, respectively. Collins added four rebounds, two steals and two assists, while Horne had four assists, two boards and one takeaway.

“It’s huge, he doesn’t hang his hat and you’re going to miss shots, you’re not perfect,” Hurley said of Collins’ play down the stretch. “But he’s been a constant on-the-ball defender for us, so it’s not like he just showed up for that possession and got it done. It was a really good defensive play.”

Oregon State finished the contest shooting 43% from the floor, 42% from deep (10-of-24) and 11-for-14 from the charity stripe for a 79% clip.

The Beavers were led by forward Michael Rataj’s 17 points, but OSU lost both the points off turnovers (25-12) and fastbreak points (17-5) battles.

“Anytime you go on the road and in conference games, you can find yourself in a dog fight,” Hurley said. “So not surprised, especially the way I saw Oregon State play in the second half versus Arizona.

“Young players woke up and I got to compliment Oregon State and (head coach) Wayne (Tinkle) and the job he’s done and definitely who he’s brought in here. He’s got some guys that he build with. So the future is going to be really good here down the line.”

LOOSE BALLS

Sun Devils center Warren Washington scored two points and had seven rebounds in his return to Corvallis, where he played his freshman season.

UP NEXT

Arizona State hosts No. 7 UCLA on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN 620 AM / 98.7 FM HD-2, the Arizona Sports app and ArizonaSports.com.

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