Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored five of his 24 points in overtime as Arizona State pulled off a 70-62 victory on Saturday to avoid a Pac-12 upset against last-place Cal at Berkeley, Calif.
DJ Horne scored 12 points and Frankie Collins added 10 points with 10 rebounds for the Sun Devils (18-8, 9-6 Pac-12), who won for just the third time in their last eight games but did pull off the road sweep of the Bay Area schools after a victory at Stanford on Thursday.
Arizona State shot just 33.3 percent from the field and managed to win without leading rebounder Warren Washington (7.0 rebounds per game), who missed his second consecutive contest because of COVID-19 concerns.
Monty Bowser and Grant Newell each scored 14 points for the Golden Bears (3-22, 2-12), who lost their ninth consecutive game. Sam Alajiki and DeJuan Clayton each scored 11 points for Cal, who lost their 12th home game of the season.
Arizona State led 32-30 at halftime before both teams embarked on a rough shooting performance in the second half. Each side made just four field goals over the first 15 minutes of the period.
The Sun Devils grabbed a 49-43 lead with 5:38 to play on a layup by Austin Nunez, staying afloat with nine free throws to that point after halftime. Cal quickly pushed in front 51-49 with 2:43 remaining on two free throws and back-to-back 3-pointers from Clayton and Alajiki.
Arizona State found its shooting touch with a basket from Devan Cambridge and a 3-pointer from Horne to tie the game 54-54 with 2:01 remaining. Horne’s basket started a 6-0 run to give the Sun Devils a 57-54 lead with 48 seconds remaining before Alajiki hit another 3-pointer to tie the game with 25 seconds to go.
Horne missed a mid-range jumper that would have given Arizona State the victory in the closing seconds of regulation.
The Sun Devils outscored the Bears 13-5 in overtime and 9-2 over the final 2:52.
–Field Level Media
