Sun Devils Advance to Semi’s in Las Vegas

Arizona State's Kimani Lawrence, right, blocks a shot by UCLA's Chris Smith 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)

LAS VEGAS – Survive and advance. It’s the simple motto of March basketball. Thursday night Arizona State did what they needed to do in their 83-72 win over UCLA in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament here at the T-Mobile Arena.

In front of a pro-Arizona State crowd the Sun Devils couldn’t shake the pesky Bruins for the first 16 minutes of the game, but in the final 3:51 of the first half Bobby Hurley’s team went on a 14-0 run including a half court buzzer beater by Kamani Lawerence, giving ASU a 45-29 halftime lead.

The second half resembled more of open-gym at the local Y, than two teams fighting to get to the Friday night semi-finals. UCLA cut the gap to 59-47 at the 12:00 mark. but the Sun Devils would pull away and cruise to the win.

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