Arizona State routs No. 20 Michigan to win Legends Classic

NEW YORK (AP) — Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 20 points and Arizona State never trailed in blowing out No. 20 Michigan 87-62 on Thursday night to win the Legends Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

DJ Horne added 19 points, Austin Nunez had 15 and Luther Muhammad scored 13 for the Sun Devils (4-1), who reached the championship game by overcoming an 11-point deficit in the final nine minutes of a 63-59 victory Wednesday night over VCU.

Hunter Dickinson scored 14 points and Jett Howard had 12 for Michigan (3-1), which routed Pittsburgh 91-60 on Wednesday but shot just 34% against ASU.

Cambridge drained four 3-pointers on the night and sparked a 29-10 run in the first half for Arizona State, which began the surge by scoring on nine straight possessions.

Michigan got within 15 just once more. Dickinson put back a miss by Howard to cut the lead to 50-34 early in the second half, but the momentum was short-lived as Howard was whistled for a foul 12 seconds later before Arizona State’s Warren Washington slammed home an alley-oop.

Cambridge hit consecutive 3s — the second with Howard’s hand in his face — before he cut into the lane, took a pass from Washington, and dunked to make it 60-41.

A jumper by Horne with 10:55 left extended it to 64-43 for Arizona State, which led by 32 before Michigan emptied the bench with 4:12 remaining. The Sun Devils followed suit with 2:26 to play.

BIG PICTURE

Michigan: Led by Dickinson down low, the Wolverines made 62.3% of their 2-point attempts in their first three games. But the Sun Devils doubled and sometimes triple-teamed Dickinson, holding Michigan to 43% from inside the arc. The Wolverines missed four consecutive shots at or near the basket during a single possession while down 22-10. They couldn’t make up for it from beyond the arc, finishing 4 of 22 (18%) on 3s.

Arizona State: The Sun Devils entered shooting just 29.4% from 3-point territory but thrived against Michigan’s zone defense, going 8-for-14 in the first half and 11 of 19 (58%) overall.

UP NEXT

Michigan: Tries to rebound against Ohio at home Sunday night.

Arizona State: Will host Grambling on Tuesday night.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25