LAS VEGAS – The Arizona State men’s basketball team had its stay at the Pac-12 Tournament come to unexpected end on Wednesday as the No. 12 seed, USC, came back from a 15-point, second-half deficit to upset the fifth-seeded Sun Devils 67-64.
Shaquielle McKissic (16 points), Bo Barnes (15 points) and Savon Goodman (10 points) all scored in double figures for the Sun Devils, who were undone by a 30-percent shooting effort in the second half.
Elijah Stewart led all scorers with 27 points as he knocked down six of USC’s seven 3-pointers on the afternoon.
The Trojans (12-19), shot 52 percent for the game, including 58 percent in the second half.
“I thought our defense certainly did not meet standards or expectations in the second half,” ASU head coach Herb Sendek said. “Our opponent shot almost 58 percent (in the second half). And so if you're going to do that, hopefully you're converting at the other end. But it was just the opposite. We shot 62 percent from the foul line, five-for-22 from (three-point range). We had a number of I thought pretty good looks and we didn't convert. And so in those situations your defense really has to lock down for you.”
For all the success USC was having shooting the basketball, it appeared it was the Sun Devils who were on their way to one of Thursday’s four quarterfinal games after a layup from Barnes gave ASU a 48-34 lead with 13:25 remaining.
The Trojans came back with five straight points to get within nine, but the Devils would lift their lead back up to 14 after a foul and a hoop by McKissic and tip-in by Goodman.
A furious flurry of scoring would ensue over a stretch of 2:04 as the teams went back and forth exchanging baskets at each end of the floor. Barnes hit a 3-pointer in the middle of the scoring burst that gave ASU its largest lead of the game, 58-43 with 9:45 remaining.
Stewart came back with a triple of his own to cut the deficit to 12, but Jacobsen answered with a jumper at the other end to once again give ASU a 14-point advantage with nine minutes left.
Very few of the 9,024 in attendance at the MGM Grand would have believed it at the time, but Jacobsen’s bucket was the last the Sun Devils would hit until less than one minute remained in the game. ASU’s offense over the next eight-plus minutes would consist of only two free throws as it missed its next eight shots.
USC, on the other hand, would remain hot as the Trojans were successful on seven of their next nine shots. The last of those field goals, a layup by Julian Jacobs with 75 seconds left, capped a 19-2 run and gave USC a 65-62 lead.
McKissic would end ASU’s drought from the floor as he came back with a layup at the opposite end to pull the Devils with one point, 65-64 with 53 seconds left.
Rather than let the shot clock wind down, USC tried to attack the basket, but Jacobs missed a layup and Goodman grabbed the rebound. McKissic and Barnes’ attempts at the go-ahead points at the opposite end both missed their mark. Barnes got his own rebound on the latter missed shot and called timeout.
McKissic’s number was called to give the Devils the lead, but the senior had his attempt at a layup knocked away just short of the rim by Nikola Jovanovic.
Stewart grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled by Tra Holder with less than four seconds left. Stewart hit the first free throw and missed the second leaving the Devils with one last shot for overtime, but McKissic’s desperation attempt to tie the game bounced off the rim.
“It's a 40-minute game,” Sendek said. “It's a game of runs. And so we never relaxed or felt like, ‘Boy, we have this game.’ That's not part of our DNA. And I thought if anything we went the other way and as they cut the lead to single digits, I thought maybe we tightened up a little bit.”
Neither team led by more than three points for the first eight-plus minutes of the game.
With ASU down 12-10, Barnes hit two free throws, which started a 15-2 run for the Sun Devils, which enabled them to get out to a 25-14 advantage with 8:37 left. They would lead by as many as 15 in the first half after Jonathan Gilling hit a 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining.
The Trojans eventually would get the lead down to 10 points at the half.