February 27, 1999
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Arthur Lee scored 29 points and Kris Weems had 23 asNo. 6 Stanford defeated No. 7 Arizona 98-83 Saturday night to clinch its firstconference title since the Pac-10 expanded to its current size in 1978-79.
Jarron Collins added 13 points as the Cardinal (24-5, 14-2 Pac-10) dethroneddefending conference champions Arizona (20-6, 11-5). Each team has tworegular-season games left.
Stanford opened a 20-point lead in the first half and then, after seeing itsmargin shrink to seven points early in the second half, rebuilt its lead to 22points on a 3-pointer by Peter Sauer with 10:04 left. Arizona, which had threeplayers foul out, never got closer than 15 points the rest of the game.
Jason Terry had 21 points and Ruben Douglas and A.J. Bramlett added 15 eachfor Arizona, which lost 89-76 Thursday night at California and has droppedback-to-back games for the first time since the end of the 1996-97 season.
The Wildcats, who also lost at Stanford and California in 1996-97, went onto win the NCAA title that season.
Stanford had not finished first in its league since the 1962-63 season, whenit shared the title with UCLA with a record of 7-5 in the AAWU - the five-teampredecessor of the Pac-10.
And Stanford had not won a league title outright since 1941-42, when it wonthe Pacific Coast Conference championship and went on to capture the NCAAcrown.
Stanford students rushed onto the floor to surround the Cardinal players atthe end of the game.
Leading by nine points at halftime, the Cardinal increased their leadsteadily throughout the second half despite getting little help from front-linestarters Tim Young and Mark Madsen - both of whom fouled out.
On coach Mike Montgomery's 52nd birthday, the Cardinal avoided another ofthe slow starts that have been tormenting them recently.
Stanford opened up a quick double-digit lead, and increased its margin to 13points when Weems hit a 3-pointer to make it 30-17 with 7:40 left in the firsthalf.
Arizona coach Lute Olson then got called for a technical foul, leading totwo free throws by Lee and a dunk by Madsen, and Weems added another 3-pointerfor a 37-17 Cardinal lead.
The Wildcats, who had gone scoreless for more than 4 1/2 minutes as Stanfordbuilt its lead to 20 points, finally came alive in the final 3:31 of the half -using a 12-1 run to pull within 43-34 at halftime.