Pacific-12 Conference Tournament Recaps

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – David Kravish’s 25 points and eight rebounds helped lead California to an 83-59 rout of Washington State in the opening game of the 2015 Pac-12 Tournament.

Jordan Matthews added 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Tyrone Wallace posted 12 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the eighth-seeded Golden Bears (18-14), who dominated play from the late first half on to set up a matchup with fifth-ranked Arizona in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

California owned a slim 26-24 edge before closing out the opening period on an 11-2 run. Kravish netted six points during the surge, which Jabari Bird capped by beating the buzzer from beyond the arc to send the Golden Bears into the break with a 37-26 advantage.

Am 8-0 sequence early the second half pushed Cal’s lead to 47-30, and the Cougars never got the deficit under 15 points the rest of the way.

Ike Iroegbu paced No. 9 seed Washington State (13-18) with 17 points, while Josh Hawkinson totaled 14 points and 11 rebounds in the loss.

Final Score: USC 67, Arizona State 64

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – Elijah Stewart scored a career-high 27 points and led a stirring USC comeback that gave the Trojans a 67-64 first- round upset of Arizona State in the Pac-12 tournament.

The Trojans, seeded last in the field after going 3-15 in league play during the regular season, trailed by 15 midway through the second half before using a 22-4 run to pull ahead. Stewart accounted for 12 points during the surge.

Julian Jacobs added 12 points for USC (12-19), which earned itself a matchup with rival UCLA in Thursday’s quarterfinals with the rally.

Fifth-seeded Arizona State (17-15) held a seemingly comfortable 58-43 lead with 9:45 to play, but made just one basket over the final nine minutes and shot 30.3 percent from the floor in the second half.

Conversely, the Trojans hit 15-of-26 field goal tries (57.7 percent) after the break.

Stewart ignited the comeback by burying a trio of 3-pointers, the last bringing USC within 60-55 with 4:44 left. After ASU’s Bo Barnes sank two free throws to temporarily stop the bleeding, the Trojans scored 10 straight points to move in front.

Darion Clark put USC up 63-62 on a layup with around two minutes remaining, and Jacobs drove and scored on the ensuing possession to extend the lead.

Shaquielle McKissic finally ended the Sun Devils’ field goal drought with a layup with under a minute to go. Arizona State had a chance to go back in front on its next trip, but missed three shots. On the last, USC’s Nikola Jovanovic rejected McKissic near the basket and Stewart corralled the rebound before being fouled and making both shots for a 67-64 edge.

McKissic, who led ASU with 16 points and nine rebounds, then missed the mark on a 3-point try at the buzzer.

Barnes finished with 15 points for the Sun Devils.

Final Score: Colorado 78, Oregon State 71

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – Josh Scott registered a double-double with 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds as the Colorado Buffaloes defeated the Oregon State Beavers, 78-71, in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Also scoring in double figures for the 10th-seeded Buffaloes (15-16) was Askia Booker with a game-high 20 points, followed by Tre’Shaun Fletcher and Dustin Thomas with 12 and 10 points, respectively.

Colorado will now take on second-seeded Oregon in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.

The seventh-seeded Beavers (17-14) were paced by Gary Payton II and Malcolm Duvivier with 17 points apiece, combining for nine rebounds, six assists and six steals in the setback. Olaf Schaftenaar accounted for 16 points as he converted 4-of-8 shots behind the 3-point line.

Oregon State led by as many as seven points in the first half and thanks to a 7-of-16 shooting effort behind the 3-point line in the period, the Beavers were able to move out to a 40-38 advantage at the break.

After knocking down 44.0 percent from the floor through the first 20 minutes of action, the Buffs jumped to 56.5 percent in order to bring about the minor upset.

Colorado survived 18 turnovers by connecting on all but two of 26 chances at the free-throw line.

Final Score: Stanford 71. Washington 69

Las Vegas, NV (SportsNetwork.com) – A 3-pointer by Chasson Randle in the final seconds pushed the Stanford Cardinal over the top for a thrilling 71-69 victory against the Washington Huskies in the first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Randle finished the night with just 10 points for sixth-seeded Stanford (19-12), converting only 2-of-7 shots behind the 3-point line and 3-of-11 from the floor. Stefan Nastic tallied a team-best 21 points, Anthony Brown 16 and reserve Reid Travis 14 points and six rebounds for a team that will now battle third-seeded Utah in the quarterfinals of the tourney on Thursday night.

The 11th-seeded Huskies (16-15) were paced by Andrew Andrews who registered a game-high 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting from the floor, followed by Nigel Williams-Goss with 16 points, to go along with seven assists and six boards. Mike Anderson filled in his stat line with nine points, 10 rebounds and seven dishes of his own.

Both teams shot just over 46 percent from the field in the first half, with Stanford moving out to a six-point advantage about seven minutes into the contest. However, the Cardinal was only 2-of-11 beyond the arc in the frame, compared to 6-of-9 for Washington, and yet the squads were tied at intermission, 32-32.

In the second half the Huskies boosted their accuracy from the floor to 60.0 percent, even going so far as to make good on 7-of-11 on the perimeter, heading towards a lead as large as seven points.

Washington was in front by five with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, but the team went scoreless the rest of the way in a game that featured eight ties and a staggering 20 lead changes.

Stanford, which outscored the Huskies in the paint by a 36-10 margin, also turned 10 Washington miscues into 17 points.

Categorized in: NCAA Basketball