Dec. 29, 2000
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - At least Casey Jacobsen had fun despite theparade to the foul line.
Jacobsen scored 17 points and No. 2 Stanford defeated Fordham 86-60 Fridaynight in a foul-plagued game in the first round of the Cable Car Classic.
Julius Barnes added 10 points and Jarron Collins had 11 rebounds as theCardinal (10-0) played their first game since beating then-No. 1 Duke eightdays ago. Stanford is off to the fifth best start in school history.
"When they call fouls every play like that it's hard to get a run going, orget into it," said Jacobsen of the combined 51 fouls. "But hey, I was havingfun while I was playing."
Arseni Kuchinsky and Jason Harris each scored 11 points for Fordham (6-4),and Bevon Robin added 10.
Fordham lost its third straight following a six-game winning streak, thelongest in 10 years for the Rams. The 26-point margin of defeat was the largestof the season for Fordham.
"It's no fun for anybody with a game like that," Fordham coach Bob Hillsaid. "I would have given the fans their money back."
Stanford, which is beating teams by an average of 26 points this season,advances to Saturday's championship game against Santa Clara, which defeatedGeorge Mason 78-76 in double overtime in the other first-round game.
This is Stanford's second appearance in the 34-year history of the Classic.The Cardinal won the 1997 championship played at the San Jose Arena.
Stanford, which has the nation's longest active consecutive run of weeks inthe Top 10 at 26, is seeking its sixth straight in-season tournament titledating to the 1997-98 season.
"It wasn't very pretty," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "They dothings physically that take you out of stuff. You're not going to be greatevery night out, but we were still able to get a win."
The Cardinal played most of the game without center Jason Collins, who waslimited to seven minutes because of a left ankle sprain.
Robin, the Rams' leading scorer this season, was questionable because of aright foot injury suffered a week ago, but was able to practice on Thursdayafter a six-day layoff.
Fordham made 9 of its first 11 shots in the second half and pulled to 54-42with 14 minutes remaining.
That was as close as the Rams would come as Stanford extended its lead to 21points six minutes later.
Michael Haynes dunked at 11:21 of the first half to pull the Rams within14-11. It was all Cardinal after that, as Fordham went the next seven minuteswithout a field goal.
The Rams didn't help themselves by shooting 18 percent (6-of-34) in thefirst half, including a 2-of-14 effort (14 percent) from 3-point range. Fordhamalso missed eight of its first 11 free throw attempts.
"Stanford is a good team and I think their size intimidated us a littlebit," Hill said. "We got good looks. We just couldn't settle in."
The Cardinal, which shot 46 percent overall, outscored Fordham 32-10 in thefinal 11 minutes of the first half to take a 46-21 lead into halftime.