TEMPE — Whether or not it was a pass or a shot is a debate for another time, but whatever you call the play James Akinjo with Azuolas Tubelis ended up giving Arizona a last-second win over in-state rival Arizona State on Thursday night. The Arizona point guard found Tubelis near the basket and the freshman power forward finished the play with a soft layup as the buzzer at Desert Financial Arena sounded giving the Wildcats an 84-82 victory over the Sun Devils.

The final two minutes of the game belonged to the Wildcats (11-3, 5-3 Pac-12) it was just a matter of being able to make up a five-point deficit that stood between them and a victory. Akinjo hit a 3-pointer before Terrell Brown Jr. hit two free throws to tie it up. Star guard Remy Martin could have given ASU (4-7, 1-4) the lead on a drive to the basket but he had the ball knocked away before Akinjo ultimately found Tubelis for the win.

"We had a stop so I was pushing it," Akinjo said as he recounted the play with reporters after the win. "I looked up and seen the clock and saw (Azuolas) was running by himself, so I tried to make a good move. I didn't want to just throw a lollygag lob so I tried to fake like I was shooting and throw a lob to (Azuolas)."

The freshman power forward said it was the first game-winning shot he's had as a basketball player. He was able to play the hero after being one of the weak points of the team through most of the night. Tubelis never quite looked comfortable until late but he performed well down the stretch capping the performance with his layup to win the game.

"It's a big credit to my teammates," he said. "They saw me and I just finished it. I had some big rebounds. Coach said, 'you need to crash the boards every time.' So, we did it pretty well in the second half and that's why we won the game."

He finished the game with eight points, four assists and a team-high seven rebounds.

For head coach Sean Miller the game was certainly not perfect but he was happy to see his team pull out a victory against its rival after leading by as many as 11 points during one stretch of the game.

"We're a team that really works hard on a daily basis," Miller said. "We've had some really good practices. Sometimes I question myself going home if we've gone too long in practice or too hard just because the war of attrition. We're down bodies, but I think you want to prepare your team and your team wants to be ready so that when you get down into that final few minutes that you have more in the tank.

"I feel like our team really relied on their daily habits, fought through, made some timely field goals, didn't give in, didn't give up and obviously won just a great, great game. Our defense is not as good as our offense. We're hard at work to make it better, it has to get better but sometimes you just have to figure out a way to try to get a win almost in spite of your defense. That was really the story line of tonight's game."

While Tubelis struggled until late in the game, Akinjo carried the Wildcats quite a bit on offense with his ability to hit shots from behind the 3-point line. The UA point guard knocked down five 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 24 points in 37 minutes of action against the Sun Devils.

"Sometimes the best defense is your offense," he said about his approach to Thursday's game. "With their guards I wanted to come out and I wanted to be aggressive from the start to put pressure on their guards, maybe put them in foul trouble and maybe get them tired. This game it's not surprising.

"I wanted to come out and really be aggressive from the jump, and that's what my teammates told me to do. It would make their job a lot easier."

Miller also noted that freshman Dalen Terry, who was recently moved to the bench, was the team's "unsung here" on Thursday night. The UA wing is a Phoenix-area native playing his first game against ASU and he shined down the stretch for the Wildcats by hitting three 3-pointers to finish with 13 points.

UA will now get back to work with a quick turnaround as the Wildcats will see Arizona State once again in just a few days as the two teams link up for the final time this season Monday night at McKale Center. Tip off for that matchup is set for 9 p.m. MST.

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