Field Level Media
Feb 27, 2022
Marreon Jackson sank the tiebreaking layup with six seconds left, Jay Heath scored 20 points and Arizona State edged Utah 63-61 on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
Jalen Graham added 15 points for the Sun Devils (12-16, 8-10 Pac-12) while Kimani Lawrence and Luther Muhammad each had 10. Jackson finished with four points, six rebounds and a game-high six assists to help the Sun Devils win for the fifth time in six games.
Arizona State completed a season sweep of the Utes by shooting 49.1 percent from the field on Saturday. The Sun Devils connected on 60 percent of their field-goal attempts in the second half, but went seven minutes without making a basket to open the door for a late Utah rally.
Marco Anthony led Utah (11-18, 4-15) with 19 points. Branden Carlson added 15 points and six rebounds. The Utes, who have dropped two in a row, sputtered a little on offense after halftime, shooting just 40 percent from the field.
The Utes erased a 14-point deficit behind a 11-0 run and tied it at 59-59 on a 3-pointer from Carlson with 1:14 remaining.
After Graham made two foul shots with 48 seconds to go, Anthony's dunk leveled the score again with 28 seconds left.
Jackson broke Arizona State's lengthy field-goal drought with his game-winner. Utah's Rollie Worster missed a jumper that would have forced overtime with a second left.
Arizona State inched ahead of Utah in the final minutes a back-and-forth first half with solid defense.
After the Utes took a 28-26 lead on a 3-pointer from Gabe Madsen, the Sun Devils held Utah to two points over the final 4 1/2 minutes of the half. Graham paced Arizona State with 10 points before halftime, culminating with a jumper that gave the Sun Devils a 33-30 lead going into the locker room.
Back-to-back layups by Lawrence sparked a run of four straight made shots for the Sun Devils, allowing them to expand their lead to 41-34 early in the second half.
Utah went seven minutes without scoring a basket before David Jenkins Jr. ended the drought with a 3-pointer at the midpoint of the second half. That sequence opened the door for Arizona State to build a double-digit lead.
Arizona State hit nine of its first 11 shots after halftime and was up by 14 with 11:53 to go.
--Field Level Media