TEMPE – Shaquielle McKissic scored a career-high 24 points – including a desperation three to send the game to overtime - but a late jumper by Joseph Young lifted the Oregon Ducks to a 68-67 victory on Friday evening in Tempe.
McKissic logged a career-high six three pointers in the game – doubling his career-high - and his layup with 42 seconds remaining in overtime put the Sun Devils (11-11, 3-6 Pac-12) up 67-66 and a chance to steal one from the Ducks (15-7, 4-5 Pac-12).
But Young’s jumper on the other end of the floor on the following possession would provide all the advantage Oregon would need to hold on after ASU’s final play fell apart, forcing Bo Barnes to heave a prayer at the buzzer that came short of its mark.
Young scored 10 of his 14 total points in the second half and overtime while Elgin Cook led the Ducks with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
McKissic finished the contest with a 6-of-10 clip from the land of trey and finished 9-of-18 from the field with 16 points in the second half and overtime. Tra Holder added 16 points to the Sun Devils’ cause.
ASU dropped to 0-2 in overtime games on the season and 13-8 under head coach Herb Sendek. The game featured 15 lead changes and four ties, most of which came in the final five minutes of regulation and the overtime period.
Holder knocked down a 14-footer with 3:31 remaining to put ASU back on top, 56-55, but Elgin Taylor answered right back on Oregon’s ensuing possession to reclaim the lead at 58-57.
After several missed jumpers and free throws on the following spree of possessions, ASU closed the game back within one on an Eric Jacobsen free throw and the Sun Devils had a chance to reclaim the lead following a Joseph Young air ball with just over a minute left in regulation.
McKissic’s jumper with the shot clock running down came up short and a flurry of action sent the ball out of bounds off an Oregon player to give ASU another chance with 31 seconds remaining but McKissic’s jumper came up short again to force the Sun Devils to play the foul game.
Joseph Young knocked down two to take a three-point lead with 26 left but Ahmad Rorie missed the front end of a one-and-one following a Jonathan Gilling three-point miss to leave the door open.
McKissic capitalized, dribbling in and around Ducks and Sun Devils and firing up a desperation 24-footer with the clock winding down that rattled home to send things to overtime.
The Sun Devils were unable to overcome a dreadful scoring discrepancy in points off turnovers in a contest where they were outscored 26-5 in the category and gave up nearly two points per each of the 14 turnovers.
ASU trailed by as many as 10 in the first half, being outscored 15-0 in points of turnovers and 26-16 off points in the paint. ASU turned the ball over eight times in the frame – leading to those 15 Duck points - but shot a solid 12-of-25 from the floor to keep the game from getting out of hand.
ASU closed the half on 11-6 run – four of which coming from McKissic’s eight total first half points - to climb back within five following a Tra Holder mid-range knockdown jumper to send the game to halftime with ASU trailing 34-29.