November 20, 1998
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - After three straight routs it won by an average of29 points, No. 3 Stanford is headed to New York for some real competition.
Arthur Lee hit five 3-pointers and had 17 points as the Cardinal won 76-51over Southwest Missouri State on Friday night to join St. John's, NorthCarolina and Purdue in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT.
Stanford (3-0) faces St. John's next Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. Inthe last three minutes of Friday's game, Stanford fans chanted "New York City,New York City."
"We did what we needed to do and we got a trip to New York, that was ourgoal," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "St. John's is going to be amajor test for us. Playing at the Garden will not be neutral for us. No way.We're going to have to be that much sharper."
Mark Madsen added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal, which hitnine 3-pointers in the game.
"We are jacked to play in the Garden," Lee said. "Of course, wherever wego we want to put on a good show. But I think this is going to be a statement,an opportunity for us to show what we can do."
Danny Moore had 18 points and William Fontleroy had 14 for SouthwestMissouri State.
The Bears were coming off an emotional win over intrastate rival Missouri inthe first round of the Preseason NIT, and coach Steve Alford said that may havecaused a bit of a letdown.
But Alford admitted that was not the reason his team lost to Stanford, whichis 52-5 at home during the past four seasons.
"Don't get me wrong - we could have played them 10 times and not beatenthem," Alford said. "This is my eighth year coaching, they're definitely thebest team I've ever faced."
Stanford opened the game with a 13-2 run that began and ended with3-pointers by Lee. Later in the first half, the Cardinal expanded its lead to38-18 with an 11-0 run capped by the first 3-pointer of freshman TonyGiovacchini's college career.
Stanford led 39-23 at halftime. The Bears pulled within 14 points early inthe second half, but the Cardinal pulled away with a 17-4 run that includedthree 3-pointers by Lee.
The Cardinal opened its biggest lead at 64-33 when Jason Collins hit a layupand made a free throw with 12:02 left in the second half.
Stanford, which has one of the nation's top front lines, dominated inside.The Cardinal had 18 offensive rebounds and held an overall 43-28 reboundingedge over the Bears.
And the Cardinal finally had a good game from the free throw line. Afterstruggling in its first two games, Stanford was 9-for-13 on foul shots Fridaynight. Stanford traditionally is one of the nation's top free throwing shootingteams.
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer