March 6, 1999
By LANDON HALL
Associated Press Writer
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Stanford blew any chance it had to gain a No. 1 seedin the NCAA tournament.
Josh Steinthal scored 19 points and Deaundra Tanner added 17 as Oregon Stateupset the No. 6 Cardinal 59-45 Saturday night.
Losses by Auburn and Maryland earlier in the day may have opened the doorfor Stanford to grab the top seed in the West. But the Cardinal didn't playlike a team that had already clinched the Pac-10 title.
"We felt coming into the weekend that if there was going to be anyconsideration for the No. 1 seed, we had to win two," said Stanford coach MikeMontgomery, whose team beat Oregon 73-61 Thursday night. "Obviously, thistakes us out of that."
Oregon State (13-14, 7-11 Pac-10) isn't going to any tournament withouttickets. But the Beavers, who had lost seven of their previous eight games,used a methodical offense and strong zone defense to snap the Cardinal'sfive-game winning streak and beat their third Top 10 team of the season.
"If you can't end the regular season headed to the tournament, I can'tthink of a better way than we did tonight," Oregon State coach Eddie Paynesaid.
Stanford (25-6, 15-3) shot just 27 percent in the second half and 33 percentoverall. The Cardinal also missed 17 of 18 3-point shots and finished with itslowest point total of the season.
Tanner outplayed Stanford guard Arthur Lee, who was held to six points afterscoring a combined 50 in his last two games.
Stanford center Tim Young had 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Mark Madsen had12 points and 12 rebounds.
Oregon State led 31-25 at the half and stretched its lead to 10 with 11:29to play. Tanner scrambled after his own rebound and hit a short baselinejumper, and after a steal by Ramunas Petraitis, Steinthal hit a 3-pointer tomake it 44-34.
A difficult reverse layup by Clifton Jones pushed the lead to 47-36 with6:37 remaining, and another 3-pointer by Steinthal made it 50-38 with 5:48left. Steinthal hit 5-of-9 from 3-point range.
The Cardinal, playing a rotation of just eight players because of an injuryto Jarron Collins against Oregon, withered down the stretch, turning the ballover and missing four free throws in a stretch of 3:38. The Cardinal missednine of 17 free throws.
A 12-foot jumper by Iyan Walker essentially put it away for the Beavers at53-41 with 2:47 left.
"We pretty much got outplayed," said Montgomery, who was named Pac-10coach of the year on Saturday. "I'm not going to make a bid deal out of it. Iknow you guys (in the media will). They beat Arizona here, and they're a greatbasketball team."
Oregon State finished the season 12-2 at home, including victories over thenNo. 7 UCLA and then No. 9 Arizona in January.
"We knew it was our last game, and we still came out fired up with a lot ofenergy," Tanner said. "It just really carried over into our defense and ourmentality through the entire game."
The Cardinal led 16-9, but Oregon State responded with a 19-4 run. Tannerhit two jumpers with the shot clock winding down, and Steinthal hit two3-pointers and a jumper in the last 3:25 to give the Beavers a 31-23 lead with55 seconds left.
Collins, whose brother Jason was knocked out of the lineup earlier thisseason, sprained his left ankle during Thursday night's 73-61 win at Oregon.