March 11, 2000
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TEMPE, Ariz. - Stanford has a share of the Pac-10 title for the secondstraight season, but the No. 2 Cardinal had to do it the hard way.
Casey Jacobsen scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half as Stanfordovercame a sloppy start to beat Arizona State 65-57 Saturday.
"We had to have this one," Jacobsen said. "We couldn't afford anotherloss."
The Cardinal (26-3, 15-3 Pac-10) had dropped their previous two games, toUCLA and No. 9 Arizona. The Wildcats beat California 70-61 in Tucson laterSaturday for a share of the league title and the automatic bid to the NCAAtournament because of a sweep of Stanford this season.
Arizona State (18-12, 10-8) needed to upset the Cardinal to have anyrealistic shot at an NCAA tourney bid. For awhile, that looked possible.
"We had a horrible start with 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes. Maybewe were nervous," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "But we got back ontrack in the second half. It was gutty performance."
The Sun Devils likely will wind up in the NIT.
"I still think we're one of the top 64 teams," Arizona State coach RobEvans said. "We are deserving of making the tournament. We just got a littletired today. Stanford is big and physical and they wore us down."
David Moseley finished with 15 points, all in the second half, as Stanfordand tied a school record with its 15th conference win.
Alton Mason paced the Sun Devils with 13 points and Eddie House had 11, butonly two in the second half.
House, the only senior on a freshmen-filled Arizona State roster, made just5 of his 23 shots. Overall, the Sun Devils were 20-of-69 from the field for aseason-low 29 percent.
"It's not my last game," said House, six points shy of becoming ArizonaState's career scoring leader. "I wish we had a conference tournament. We'vehad a great second half this season. We deserve to keep playing."
The Cardinal appeared to be in trouble early with Arizona State using an11-0 run to take a 16-6 lead. But Moseley keyed a 15-0 spurt to put Stanford up21-16 with 6:20 left in the first half.
Mason, Justin Allen and Donnell Knight all sank 3-pointers as the Sun Devilsclosed the half with a 9-0 run for a 30-26 lead.
Jacobsen opened the second half with a 3-pointer from the corner - one ofseven Cardinal 3-pointers in the second half - and Michael McDonald's 3-pointerput Stanford ahead to stay at 34-32 with 18:13 left.
Ryan Mendez came off the bench to make a pair of 3-pointers that capped a20-6 run for a 46-36 lead with 12:48 remaining.
Consecutive 3-pointers from Jacobsen and Mendez made it 55-43 with 9:23 toplay.
Arizona State closed to 57-50 on two free throws by Knight with 3:06 left,but Jacobsen made three free throws down the stretch.
"Jacobson was huge," Montgomery said. "He played 37 minutes. I asked himif he was tired a couple times and he said, 'Coach, I want them all the way.'He's a great competitor."
By WALTER BERRY
Associated Press Writer