This article was originally published on February 9, 2023.
Stanford (10-14, 4-9 Pac-12) led by four points with just over two minutes to play against Arizona State (17-8, 8-6 Pac-12) on Thursday. ASU fifth-year guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. drilled a deep, contested 3-pointer.
On the next possession after a key stop, junior guard DJ Horne followed suit and hit his own contested three.
The Sun Devils never looked back, getting an improbable 69-65 win in Palo Alto to save their fading postseason dreams. What made it more improbable was getting the win against one of the nation’s tallest teams without key senior center Warren Washington, who was a late scratch after a positive COVID test.
After trailing by as many as 13 points, the Sun Devils ramped up their defensive effort significantly despite lacking their defensive anchor in Washington. They held Stanford scoreless for the last four minutes of the game, a task that looked impossible for basically the entire game.
Until the Horne and Cambridge Jr. heroics, the game appeared to be going the exact same way as Saturday’s loss to Oregon. Every time ASU made a run, Stanford would answer, usually with a 3-pointer from junior forward Spencer Jones. Jones finished with 17 points and five made threes.
Stanford dictated the speed of the game until ASU brought their full-court pressure out late in the second half. This allowed the streaky ASU offense to get going, going on separate 8-plus-point runs when running the press.
Horne and Cambridge Jr. both benefited greatly from this, finishing with 18 and 13 points, respectively. However, ASU wouldn’t have had a chance without sophomore guard Frankie Collins, who put together an impressive offensive outing, adding 15 of his own. Collins kept ASU afloat during some ugly stretches by attacking the basket and creating his own offense.
In the absence of Washington, ASU coach Bobby Hurley turned to his bench searching for answers to pull the Sun Devils out of a number of mostly self-inflicted holes.
Freshman forward Duke Brennan shouldered the heaviest load and handled it well, taking a couple of charges in key moments, including one to stop a three-on-one fastbreak for Stanford. Despite being undersized against one of the taller teams in the nation, Brennan held his own and led the team in plus-minus with a plus-19.
Other key contributors for ASU included senior guard Devan Cambridge, who logged a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and freshman guard Austin Nunez, who drilled a pair of crucial 3-point shots from the corner and finished with seven points.
While the win won’t improve ASU’s resume greatly, it keeps the team in the hunt for an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament.
After tonight’s escape, the Sun Devils continue their trip in the Bay Area with a visit to Berkeley to face the last-place Cal Bears (3-20, 2-10 Pac-12). That game will tip-off Saturday at 6 p.m. MST on Pac-12 Network.
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