With 9 minutes and 6 seconds left in the 1st half of the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal matchup between No. 3-seed USC and No. 6-seed Arizona State, senior guard Drew Peterson knocked down a 3-pointer to bring the Trojans to within 5 of the hot-shooting Sun Devils, cutting the lead to 25-20

Arizona State had started the game on fire, building an 8-0 lead just over a minute into the game, but USC was able to keep it close on the strength of its backcourt combo of Peterson and Boogie Ellis, the league’s 2nd-leading regular-season scorer, who had 9 early points.

Peterson’s big three portended big things for the Trojans, especially when Luther Muhammad committed an offensive foul on ASU’s ensuing possession. Now this was USC’s chance make a run.

Only Arizona State put together its best 8 minutes of the season, possibly saving its season in the process.

Forget the season.

Did those 8 minutes just save Bobby Hurley’s job?

*****

Before the Trojans could blink, Arizona State went on a 14-4 run to build itself a 39-25 halftime lead in a game they’d go on to win 77-72. Those 8 minutes were a defining stretch for the Sun Devils, and for Hurley, whose job isn’t exactly in jeopardy, but could use some safe-keeping.

The victory, ASU’s 22nd on the season, might be just enough to sneak the Sun Devils into next week’s play-in game and a potential 11 seed. A win in the semifinals against Arizona would put them in contention for a 10 seed. Another win in the finals, particularly over second-ranked UCLA, would give them an argument for a 9 seed.

“USC’s a really good team; it feels great because we know how good they are and they’re an NCAA Tournament team and one of the best defensive teams in the country and have two guys that could take over a game,” Hurley said after the game. “So when you’re able to accomplish something like that you feel great about it.”

Hurley, who is not always effusive with his praise, was ebullient on Thursday. He knew what the stakes were in this game.

So did Desmond Cambridge Jr.

Arizona State’s best player had his best game of the season, knocking down 10-of-21 shots, including 6-of-12 3-pointers, en route to a game-high 27 points. In a head-to-head matchup with one of the league’s best and hottest scorers, USC’s Boogie Ellis, it was Cambridge who looked like the revelation, with Ellis finishing with 15 points.

“Confidence, literally,” Cambridge said. “Last night I was talking to Alonzo Gaffney just about the game yesterday, and he told me one thing that I needed to hear and that was just be confident in myself. I kept second-guessing a lot of my shots, a lot of my decisions, and when your teammates believe in you, like sometimes that’s all you need. I know I have confidence in myself and, yeah, when your teammates also have that confidence in you, you feel like nothing can stop you.”

*****

If Arizona State played its best 8 minutes of the season in the first half, USC played one of its worst in the 2nd. The Trojans were absolutely dreadful down the stretch.

First, a Kobe Johnson turnover, as he passed it to Reese Dixon-Waters, who wasn’t looking. Then a pair of uncharacteristic free-throw misses by Dixon-Waters, followed by an ASU offensive rebound on a DJ Horne missed 3-pointer. Then another turnover and another missed free-throw.

Like in the 1st half, the Trojans had another dry spell, scoring 2 points in a late 3-minute stretch.

“We cut it to five and they rebounded a free throw miss with a minute left or 45 seconds left and that just kind of summed the whole game up,” Enfield said. “You can’t give extra possessions especially when they were shooting like that. They were making some tough shots at the end of the shot clock. I think they made probably four or five threes and we fouled them with one second on the shot clock.”

But it was more about the 1st-half hole they dug for themselves, Ellis said.

“Honestly, in the first half, they wanted it more than us. We came out flat,” he said. “They got a lot of offensive rebounds. They just wanted it more than us tonight. That’s my job as a leader to get the guys going and I didn’t do a great job of that. So it’s just effort. But, I mean, we fought better in the second half, but the first half we can’t play like that and expect to win this basketball game.”

*****

Now the Pac-12 better hope it didn’t do what it has done for countless seasons on the football field and cannibalized itself.

As of Joe Lunardi’s 8 p.m. EST update to his bracketology predictions, the Sun Devils remained the first team out, the 69th team in the field. Not, as they say, nice.

Arizona State boasts wins over Arizona, Oregon, USC, Creighton, Michigan and VCU, with seven true road wins and 12 wins outside of Tempe. Is that enough?

And worse, if it is enough, where does that leave USC?

Might the Trojans be the victims of ASU’s success?

“We had six guys recognized, with Boogie and Drew as First Team All League, Reese is the Sixth Man of the Year, and Tre White was First Team All Freshmen Team,” Enfield said. “So to have six players recognized in all-conference voting it’s a credit to them because they deserve it. They went out and earned it and improved as a team. Where that puts us on Sunday, that’s not my decision, but I’m very, very proud as a head coach of what these guys have accomplished.”

The Sun Devils, meanwhile, have more to accomplish.

A win over Arizona on Friday would almost certainly guarantee them a March Madness berth, and may be enough to help them avoid the play-in game. A potential win over UCLA in the final? Now we’re talking.

“These are the games you live for,” Cambridge said. “That last game (against Arizona), that was amazing. It’s going to be hard to overcome that just in terms of feeling. But I have never experienced a PAC-12 championship either and I know that’s going to feel good. So to do that, we have to beat a good team like Arizona and, yeah, they’re a good team and we’re a good team and just as a competitor these are the kind of games you want to play. So we’re looking forward to it and we’re ready to play.”