Stanford Beats Arizona at Pac-10 Tourney

[March 14, 2008]  LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Brook Lopez had 20 points and 15 rebounds, including 10 in a second-half spurt that helped No. 11 Stanford pull away to a 75-64 victory over Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.

The second-seeded Cardinal (25-6) advanced to Friday's semifinals against No. 3 seed Washington State, which beat Oregon 75-70. The Cardinal swept the Cougars (24-7) during the regular season.

Jerryd Bayless led seventh-seeded Arizona (19-14) with 18 points. Jordan Hill added 16 and Chase Budinger 13.

Robin Lopez, the 7-foot twin brother of Brook, added 14 points. Lawrence Hill, Mitch Johnson and Fred Washington had 11 points each.

Brook Lopez had 11 defensive rebounds and Johnson added 10 rebounds, helping Stanford dominate the boards, 50-27.

The Wildcats' streak of 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, longest in the nation, could be in jeopardy. They went 8-10 in the league's regular season, their worst record since 1983-84, the last time Arizona didn't make the NCAAs.

Stanford swept Arizona during the regular season by a combined five points, and the third meeting was just as close until the final 11 1/2 minutes.

That's when Lawrence Hill launched the game-breaking 20-5 run on a jumper that snapped a 49-all tie. Brook Lopez scored 10 points to put the Cardinal ahead for good, 69-54, with 4:55 remaining.

The Wildcats, who had been matching the Cardinal basket-for-basket until then, went cold and committed four of their nine turnovers in the spurt.

Arizona cut its deficit to 73-64 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jawann McClellan and Nic Wise with 2:23 remaining. After a timeout, Robin Lopez blocked Bayless and Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill angrily smacked his left hand on the scorer's table. Washington stole the ball, allowing the Cardinal to control the closing seconds.

The start of the second half duplicated the first 20 minutes, with the teams tied six times and Stanford never ahead by more than three points until the Cardinal's decisive run.

Jordan Hill scored Arizona's first six points of the game while the Cardinal opened 0-for-6. The teams were tied for a stretch before Brook Lopez's basket gave Stanford its first lead, 21-19.

From there, the Wildcats outscored the Cardinal 16-14 -- taking a four-point lead three times -- but the teams went into halftime tied at 35 after Johnson stole the ball and fed Lawrence Hill for the score.

[Associated Press; By BETH HARRIS]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.