ASU Basketball: Sun Devils ousted by Oregon in overtime

Trailing by as much as 12, No. 2 seed ASU basketball rallied before falling to the sixth-seeded Oregon Ducks in overtime.

Four months ago, Arizona State sophomore Kimani Lawrence stood in the left corner, parallel to the south baseline of T-Mobile Arena, patiently awaiting an opportunity. Moments later, the forward delivered a go-ahead 3 from the corner in the final minute to will the Sun Devils past then-No. 15 Mississippi State.

With ASU clinging to a waning lead in their 79-75 loss to Oregon on Friday night, Lawrence drove right, stepped in from the baseline and knocked down a pull-up jump shot only steps away from the location of his mid-November heroics.

The basket put the Pac-12’s second-place team ahead by three with 2:05 to play.

On the subsequent possession, Oregon guard Ehab Amin tied the game from the right corner, initiating heartbreak exactly 92 feet from a spot where the Sun Devils experienced elation in the fall.

“They made a lot of big shots late in the game,” coach Bobby Hurley said. “Amin’s shot in the right corner was a huge turning point.”

Neither ASU nor Oregon scored in the final 94 seconds, requiring overtime to determine a winner. But unlike its past trip to Las Vegas, ASU had previously exhausted all of its captivating moments.

Down as many as eight points in the extra period, the deficit was at three when a game-tying 3 from Luguentz Dort hit the back iron in the final seconds. The freshman guard had a team-high 16 points in the loss.

Sophomore guard Remy Martin pulled up at the 16:18 mark of the opening period, motioning to Hurley for a substitution after straining his groin. He returned nearly seven minutes later, still managing 31 minutes despite  playing at ’60 to 75 percent’, according to Hurley.

When Martin re-entered, ASU trailed by 11 points, a deficit that would reach 12 before facing a seven-point halftime deficit.

“He gutted it out because he’s a warrior,” Hurley said. “We’re going to have six or seven days to get him healthy.”

With memories of a 28-point loss in Eugene on Feb. 28 still fresh in their minds, the Sun Devils opened the second half on a 21-3 run, stunning the Ducks in racing out to a nine-point lead.

Martin, along with redshirt senior Zylan Cheatham and junior Rob Edwards each had six points during the ASU burst.

“We really had a couple of bad stretches defensively,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “To the guys’ credit, they stayed with it.”

With momentum favoring ASU, the lead wavered between three and seven points before triples from Amin and redshirt senior Paul White tied the game at 67.

After Friday’s outcome, the Sun Devils await their fate on Selection Sunday while Oregon will face top-seed Washington for the Pac-12 title.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.