Azoulas Tubelis scored 17 points to lead a balanced scoring effort from No. 8 Arizona, which led Arizona State almost wire to wire on Friday in a 78-59 semifinal win at the Pac-12 Conference tournament in Las Vegas.
The result sets up a rematch of last year’s Pac-12 championship game between the Wildcats and top-seeded UCLA, which beat Oregon 75-56 in the other semifinal on Friday. Arizona won last year’s final 84-76.
Arizona (27-6) only trailed for 1:43 early into the contest, but Arizona State went on a 7-0 run midway through the second half to pull within four points with 7:06 remaining.
The Wildcats responded resoundingly, outscoring Arizona State 22-7 the rest of the way.
All seven Arizona players who logged more than a minute of game time recorded at least five points. Oumar Ballo and Cedric Henderson Jr. put up 14 points each. Ballo also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, and Tubelis had nine boards.
Tubelis and Ballo combined to hit 15 of 21 shots from the floor.
Courtney Ramey added nine points, all scored on 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Kerr Kriisa, who sustained a shoulder injury in Arizona’s quarterfinal win over Stanford on Thursday, contributed five points and a game-high seven assists.
Frankie Collins and Jamiya Neal paced Arizona State (22-12) with 11 points each. DJ Horne added nine points, and Desmond Cambridge Jr. and Warren Washington each finished with eight points.
Cambridge powered Arizona State to a quarterfinal romp against Southern California, and he hit a three-quarter-court buzzer-beater to sink Arizona on Feb. 25, but he shot just 3 of 10 on Friday.
The Sun Devils were 21 of 65 (32.3 percent) from the floor as a team, including 6 of 26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.
Arizona, meanwhile, shot 10 of 19 (52.6 percent) from beyond the arc, 31 of 55 (56.4 percent) from the floor.
–Field Level Media
