Nov. 25, 2000
BAYAMON, Puerto Rico - Casey Jacobsen had 22 points andfive rebounds as fifth-ranked Stanford beat Georgia 71-58 onSaturday to win the Puerto Rico Shootout.
``They're a well disciplined basketball team,'' Georgia coachJim Harrick said. ``They don't beat themselves. We're still at astage where we beat ourselves.''
Harrick and Stanford coach Mike Montomery credited Jacobsen andRyan Mendez for powering the Cardinal offense. Mendez finished with17 points, including two big 3-pointers.
``Mendez got a couple of baskets on the transition and thenJacobsen just scored,'' Harrick said. ``We stopped everything butJacobsen just kept coming and I think he said, 'I'm going to beatyou.'''
With 12:03 to go in the half, Jacobsen scored the Cardinal'snext seven points to open up a 15-point lead, 55-40.
``In basketball you're always trying to search for the flow. Ithink we found it tonight,'' Jacobsen said. ``We started gettingeasy looks and once we're ahead our defense will sustain whateverlead we have, we have confidence in that.''
Montgomery said his team was slightly hampered by injuries, withJarron Collins slowed by back spasms and twin brother Jason hobbledby a sore knee. Curtis Borchart also has been playing with a footinjury. Montgomery said he's looking forward to the four day's restbefore the Cardinal faces UC Riverside.
``In stretches we were impatient on offense and I thought thathurt us a little bit but when we moved the ball we took advantageand ran the score up a little bit,'' said Montgomery, who is in his15th season with the Cardinal.
``Because we had some of the guys injured we tried to preservethem as much as we could. We'd play the three-quarter press andthen drop back into the zone. Sometimes the zone can buy you timeand take the pressure off of the injured.''
Overall, Montgomery said he'd like his team to learn to be moreaggressive.
``I thought we played well but we can do better,'' he said.``There've been times when we've had a lead and been complacent. Weneed to stick the dagger in.''