For a while it seemed as if the ASU Sun Devils were a team of destiny at the Pac 12 basketball tournament in Las Vegas but those dreams came to a halt this afternoon as they dropped a heartbreaker to the UCLA Bruins to exit the tournament.
The Devils fought hard today and after dominating the Bruins for the first thirty minutes of the game they let a 15 point second half lead slip away as they lost to UCLA by a final score of 80-75, thus ending their run in the tournament.
The Devils got to this point by winning a thrilling overtime game last night against the Stanford Cardinal. The team came out on fire today and led the Bruins by as many as 15 points in the second half. But in the end the Devils just ran out of gas and could not finish the job.
Some bright spots for the Devils were 21 points by ASU guard Jahii Carson, five three point baskets by Jonathan Gilling, and a career high tying 22 points by Jordan Bachynski. Bachynski also became the season leader in blocked shots by a Sun Devil in the losing effort.
With the loss the Devils sit with a record of 21-12 on the season. They likely would have had to reach the final game of the tournament to get back to being a bubble team for the NCAA tournament and would have had to win it to guarantee themselves a spot in the "Big Dance". As it stands the team will likely be playing in the NIT next week and will probably get to host a game in Tempe. Stay tuned for post season updates.
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