December 17, 1998
RENO, Nev. - Kris Weems' shooting slump ended on a cold night in Reno.
Weems, who had been struggling from the field all season, scored 23 points -including five 3-pointers - and No. 6 Stanford overcame a slow start with a bigspurt before halftime in a 101-57 win over Nevada on Thursday night.
As the temperature outside dipped below freezing, a stark contrast to thebalmy weather back home at Stanford, a slimmer Weems started hitting his shots.
Weems had gained some weight over the summer, but a couple of trips to theEast Coast for tournaments in the last few weeks helped him lose five pounds.
"I lost some weight over the last month traveling so much. I think I mighthave been a little heavy, and that took away from my leg explosion," saidWeems, who now weighs 200. "I used my legs and tried to shoot the ball up alittle more."
Weems, who was averaging less than seven points a game this season andhitting just 35 percent of his shots, was 9-of-12 from the field. After leadingStanford in scoring nine times last season, he topped the Cardinal in scoringfor the first time this year.
"Definitely it's been a while coming," Weems said. "I was coming open offthe double teams and they weren't switching like a lot of teams do. Then it wasjust a matter of knocking the shots down."
Trailing 24-21 with 8:49 left in the first half, the Cardinal (6-2)outscored the Wolf Pack 25-4 the rest of the half. Weems hit a 3-pointer to endthe half and cap the run.
David Moseley scored 19 of his 23 points for Stanford in the second half.Mark Madsen added 14 points and Peter Sauer had 13 for the Cardinal, who made11 3-pointers and expanded their lead steadily throughout the second half.
It was the first time in school history that Stanford scored 100 points onthe road.
"That was obviously the best we've shot the ball this year. To be honest, Icould see it coming in practice a bit," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said."It looked to me that Nevada was real concerned with our big people, so theymade concessions to protect the inside, and we took advantage of that."
Dimitrios Marmarinos had 12 points to lead Nevada (3-4) before fouling outwith 4:10 left in the game. But John Burrell, who was averaging 20 points pergame and had led Nevada in scoring in all but one game this season, was held tofour points.
Stanford, which committed just six fouls in the game, outrebounded the WolfPack 42-22 and has held the rebounding edge against all eight of its opponentsthis season.
"Our game lasted 15 minutes, after that it was downhill quick," Nevadacoach Pat Foster said. "They've got a great team and they played great. Afterthe first 15 minutes it was a team we couldn't compete with."
Trailing 24-21, Stanford scored eight straight points, including four byMoseley. A three-point play by Madsen gave Stanford a 32-26 lead with 3:43 leftbefore halftime and Madsen then dunked off an alley-oop from Arthur Lee.
Weems' 3-pointer with 1:37 remaining in the half gave the Cardinal a 39-28lead. Stanford hit two layups and then Weems finished off the half with another3 to make it 46-28.
Stanford extended its lead to 53-30 early in the second half on a 3-pointerby Sauer and led by at least 20 points the rest of the game.
Stanford was playing its first game without Jason Collins, a backup centerwho is expected to miss the rest of the season after having surgery on hisright wrist. Collins dislocated the wrist against George Washington on Dec. 7.
The Cardinal also are missing backup point guard Michael McDonald (sprainedright foot) and backup shooting guard Ryan Mendez (left knee).
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer