Desmond Cambridge Jr. connected on 6 of 12 attempts from 3-point range en route to a game-high 27 points and sixth-seeded Arizona State led wire-to-wire in a 77-72 win over No. 3 seed Southern California in a Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal Thursday in Las Vegas.

The win keeps Arizona State’s NCAA Tournament hopes alive; the Sun Devils will face rival Arizona in a semifinal on Friday.

The Sun Devils (22-11) set the tone just 12 seconds in when Cambridge knocked down the first of his 3-pointers and scored the first five points. DJ Horne added another triple, and Arizona State’s initial 8-0 lead never dissipated.

Horne, who finished with 16 points, made another 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer. Coupled with a quick 8-2 Sun Devils burst out of intermission, Arizona State’s lead swelled to 17 points.

USC (22-10) chiseled away at the deficit throughout the second half in a reversal of roles from the two regular season meetings between the Trojans and Sun Devils.

In both of those encounters, USC built big leads before having to hold off Arizona State rallies down the stretch. In the regular-season finale five days ago, the Trojans saw a 14-point lead trimmed to one in a 68-65 win, their last game before Thursday’s quarterfinal.

This time, it was USC cutting the deficit to four points in the final minute. Kobe Johnson, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, and Tre White each sank 3-pointers in the closing 19 seconds that pulled the Trojans to their closest gap since midway through the first half.

However, USC could get no closer.

Tre White and Reese Dixon-Waters both scored 16 points for USC. Boogie Ellis added 15 points before fouling out late.

A balanced scoring effort complemented Cambridge’s performance for Arizona State, including 11 points from his brother, Devan Cambridge.

–Field Level Media