Desmond Cambridge Jr. had 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field to lift Arizona State to its eighth straight victory with a 73-71 win over Creighton on Monday night at Las Vegas.
The Sun Devils (10-1) handed Creighton (6-5) its fifth straight loss.
DJ Horne had 12 points and Austin Nunez added 10 for Arizona State.
Creighton’s Baylor Scheierman had 18 points, Fredrick King finished with 16 and Arthur Kaluma had 15.
A pivotal 11-1 run put the Sun Devils ahead 70-66 with 2:25 remaining. Kaluma’s 3-pointer with 2:01 left ended a field-goal drought of 3:20 for Creighton and cut the lead to 70-69. Cambridge responded with a jump shot on the next possession for Arizona State.
Scheierman’s layup with 23 seconds left cut the lead to 72-71. Frankie Collins made one of two free throws for Arizona State with 12 seconds left.
Creighton called timeout with 7.9 seconds left to set up the last play, which resulted in a failed last-second 3-point attempt by Ryan Nembhard, who had nine assists but was 1 of 9 from the field.
The Bluejays played their second consecutive game without starting center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who is out with a non-COVID-19 illness, according to the school.
Kalkbrenner, the reigning Big East Defensive Player of the Year, sat on the bench Monday night after being there Saturday in an 83-80 loss to BYU, also in Las Vegas.
Horne, who led Arizona State to a 58-57 win at Creighton last season with a team-high 12 points, matched that scoring total in the first half Monday when the Sun Devils led 35-29.
The Bluejays shot 25.8 percent from the field in the first half and 37.1 percent in the game.
Creighton outscored Arizona State 18-3 to start the second half, taking a 47-38 lead with 13:14 remaining.
Cambridge scored the Sun Devils’ next 11 points, nine on three 3-pointers, to cut the lead to 52-49 with 10:34 left.
–Field Level Media
