LAS VEGAS - Kimani Lawrence left his hand up. It was the most confident bobbled dribble, pickup and half-court heave all in one second ever. With the backboard outlined in bright red LED lights, and Lawrence’s shot heading that way, the lengthy forward stuck his right arm high in the air seconds before his first half buzzer-beater dropped.

Even as the Sun Devil reserves flew off the bench, chasing him like a bounty hunter on the prowl after a fugitive, the 6-foot-7, 210-pound sophomore kept it high in the air. He pinched his thumb and index finger together so his three fingers were clear, out-sprinting every other Sun Devil to the locker room.

“I just picked it up and threw it up,” Lawrence admitted. “I didn’t even think it was going to go in. It felt good but I didn’t even look at the rim, for real.”

His eccentric bobble and half-court hoist followed a quartet of 3-pointers from the Sun Devils, including a pair from freshman guard Luguentz Dort, and capped off ASU’s 14-0 run to end the first half, lending the Sun Devils a 16-point lead heading into the break.

Four and a half minutes into the second period, ASU had expanded its advantage to 23.

This was it. The ASU everyone had been expecting. The one that Sun Devil players and coaches had been promising. The one that was, no doubt, going to make a deep run in the Pac-12 Tournament.

“I feel like it kind of started when I hit the two threes back-to-back,” Dort said. “And then there was just momentum and everybody was into it. It was important for us because we knew if we were able to get on the run, we’d be able to maintain the lead.”

Not so fast. Instead, the Sun Devils did what they’ve always done: the opposite of what everyone expects. For nearly 8 minutes and 30 seconds in the second half, they failed to record a field goal (0-7), providing a bit more drama than expected in their 83-72 win over UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals.

“I thought at times in the game we forgot kind of what got us there,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said, “and that was getting the ball inside to Romello and Zylan (Cheatham), and both of those guys had great individual games.”

The Sun Devil head coach is right. White and Cheatham combined for 32 points and 20 rebounds in a game where ASU outscored the Bruins 34-20 in the paint. Most expected for Cheatham, a redshirt senior transfer from San Diego State, to show up -- his track record made it almost a certainty.

But White largely resembles the team he plays on: inconsistent. Before Thursday, the 6-foot-8 sophomore was averaging just 8.4 points and 5.2 rebounds a game but boasted 12 games where he scored in double-figures.

His feelings on the subject have gone back and forth throughout the season. At times he seems more than content, happy to play defense, rack up rebounds and help his team win. Other times, he thinks there’s a matchup he can exploit and isn’t afraid to let his teammates know that he wants the ball.

To ASU’s benefit, the latter occurred Thursday in Las Vegas. The Sun Devils, facing an injury-ridden UCLA team, built a game plan perfect for White.

“Our plan was to actually to get Romello White the ball to go after (UCLA 7-foot-1 freshman center Moses Brown) because he’s not really a good defender,” Dort said. “He’s really tall but he’s not really a good defender. I just feel like we did a good job of giving the ball to Romello and Melo doing his thing.”

With White often backing him down, Brown picked up three fouls in the first half and played just 11 minutes the entire night.

Lawrence added that White was telling guys to give him the ball and he’s going to score. The Sun Devils abided. They gave him the ball and, eight out of 10 times, he scored, leading to a season-high 19 points.

“It was just like, get the ball to Melo,” Lawrence said. “There’s a lot of games where he doesn’t get the ball enough and he got it going this game and it was a big point of emphasis to get him the ball. Like every time he got the ball, he was going to score and he did that.”

White agreed.

“My teammates really looked for me today and they were really trying to get me the ball and they did a good job of doing that and I just feel like I finished well,” he said.

Aside from its inconsistencies, the major question mark of Arizona State’s tournament hopes seemed to lie in the paint, concerned with the thought that a tandem of White and senior De’Quon Lake, to go with Cheatham, could take the Devils far.

In recent weeks, Hurley had flip-flopped White and Lake in the starting rotation without much success. The thoughts of a rock-solid ASU frontcourt seemed bleak, leading most heading into March with the assumption that ASU’s guards would carry it.

But Thursday’s win over UCLA shed light onto what ASU can be at its best. With a game plan set up for White to succeed, he did. And in turn, it set up the Sun Devil shooters, who connected nearly 50 percent of their attempts.

With the victory, ASU will play the winner of Oregon/Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinal. Oh, and it seems that Sun Devils have locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament, clearing up any uncertainty that they may still be stuck on the bubble.

“After this game,” Hurley said, “what uncertainty?”