Cal Sports Report

Pac-12 Tournament: Arizona State Tops USC to Help Its NCAA Chances

Oregon stays alive for NCAA Tournament berth by beating WSU. UCLA gets past Colorado without Jaylen Clark. Kerr Kriisa sinks lefty foul shot in Arizona win

Jake Curtis

Arizona State's chances of landing an NCAA tournament berth got a major boost with its 77-72 victory over USC Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN, Mike DeCourcy of FOX Sports, Jerry Palm of CBS Sports and Bracketville all listed Arizona State among the First Four Out Thursday morning, but Lunardi noted that Arizona State would be elevated to one of the Last Four In with a win over the third-seeded Trojans.

This does not assure Arizona State (22-11) an NCAA tournament berth, although a Sun Devils victory over Arizona in Friday's semifinals might. A loss to the Wildcats would put the Sun Devils' postseason status in jeopardy again.

USC is still expected to land an NCAA tournament berth, but it could get dicey if there are some surprising results in conference tournaments across the country.

Earlier Thursday, Oregon kept its faint hopes for an NCAA tournament berth alive with a 75-70 victory over Washington State, and UCLA stayed alive for an No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament by beating ninth-seeded Colorado 80-69 in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in Las Vegas.

Later Thursday, second-seeded Arizona beat No. 10 Stanford 95-84, but the status of guard Kerr Kriisa is an issue after he injured his right shoulder, causing him to take -- and make -- a left-handed free throw.

UCLA was without Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 defensive player of the year and the Bruins’ second-leading scorer, who reportedly will miss the rest of the season with a lower-leg injury.

Lunardi, and DeCourcy of FOX Sports both had UCLA as a No. 1 seed in their projections of the NCAA tournament field posted Thursday morning, but Palm and Bracketville had the Bruins as a No. 2 seed. So the Bruins remain on the borderline of a No. 1 seed and need to win is semifinal game against Oregon on Friday.

Oregon probably needs to beat the Bruins to have a shot at an at-large berth to the Big Dance.  Lunardi and Bracketville both have Oregon among the Next Four Out, which puts them on the fringe of the bubble. Of course, the Ducks would earn an automatic NCAA bid if they win the conference tournament, and that could be the only way they'll get in.

Arizona State 77, USC 72

The Sun Devils made only nine two-point field goals, but they hit 14 three-pointers to account for 42 of their 77 points.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. was 6-for-12 on three-pointers and finished with 27 points for Arizona State, which led by 17 points early in the second half and held a 16-point advantage with 6:41 remaining before the Trojans (22-10) made a late run to get as close as four points in the closing seconds.

Tre White and Reese Dixon-Waters had 16 points apiece for USC, while Boogie Ellis and Kobe Johnson each had 15 points.  All-conference swingman Drew Peterson was limited to nine points on 2-for-12 shooting.

Arizona 95, Stanford 84

Arizona (25-6) shot 63.8% from the field for the game, and Cedric Henderson Jr. (23 points), Oumar Ballo (24 points) and Azuolas Tubelis (20 points) combined to go 27-for-38 from the floor.  Tubelis had never scored more than 11 points in his six previous games against Stanford.

Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa suffered an injury to his right shoulder in the first half.  He was 0-for-3 from the field, and he did not attempt a field goal in the second half as his shoulder was obviously bothering him.  With 1:43 left in the game, Kerr shot an airball on a free-throw attempt taken right-handed.  He opted to take his second free throw left-handed, and he made it, much like Loyola Marymount's Bo Kimble did in the 1990 NCAA tournament in tribute to deceased teammate Hank Gathers. 

The Cardinal (14-19) held a three-point lead with 15:56 left in the game, but Arizona controlled play the rest of the way. Spencer Jones led Stanford with 22 points in what may have been his final college game. Stanford made 14 three-point shots (in 29 attempts), but it also committed 17 turnovers.

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Oregon 75, Washington State 70

Oregon (19-13) blew a 19-point, first-half lead and allowed Washington State to take the lead in the second half. But two big plays by N'Faly Dante in  closing minutes saved the Ducks.

First Dante hit a follow shot with 1:38 left to put Oregon on top 72-70.  Then with 28.5 seconds remaining, Dante blocked a layup attempt by WSU's Justin Powell to maintain the two-point lead. Dante injured his ankle on the play and had to be helped off, although he said after the game that he was OK.

WSU (17-16) had its seven-game winning streak halted, but nearly pulled off the comeback by shooting 56.5% in the second half, including 6-for-11 on three-pointers.  TJ Bamba led the Cougars with 19 points, while Jermaine Cousinard and Keeshawn Barthelemy had 17 apiece for the Ducks.  Dante finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds and the one block.

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UCLA 80, Colorado 69

The game was closer than the score indicated, as Colorado (17-16) held the lead with 5:18 remaining, but the Bruins (28-4) dominated play in the closing minutes to record their 11th straight victory.

UCLA freshman Amari Bailey had a career-high 26 points, and he will be expected to be a bigger factor with Clark sidelined.

The Buffaloes held a 61-60 lead with 5:18 to go, but Pac-12 player of the year Jaime Jaquez made a three-pointer 14 seconds later to put UCLA ahead to stay. Jaquez finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Tyger Campbell added 18 points.

Colorado shot 51% from the field and made 10 three-pointers. Tristan da Silva led the Buffaloes with 17 points, but the most impressive play of the game was provided by UCLA freshman Adem Bona, who had 10 rebounds and three blocks, including this memorable block:

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Cover photo of Amari Bailey is by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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