Jan. 25, 2001
By JANIE McCAULEY
Associated Press Writer
SEATTLE - Stanford was waiting for Washington to react. It neverhappened.
It took the nation's No. 1 team less than 5 minutes to take control and runaway for its 18th straight win Thursday night. The Cardinal used a barrage of3-pointers during a 17-0 first-half run that led to a 94-63 win over theHuskies.
Michael McDonald shot 4-for-4 from 3-point range in the first half and wasone of four scorers in double figures for Stanford, which matched the beststart in school history. Stanford also started the 1997-98 season 18-0.
"They came out tough, but we started hitting our shots from the outside andput the game away early," said McDonald, who just missed a double-double with14 points and nine assists.
"It seemed like everything we tried worked," said Ryan Mendez, who had two3-pointers and 14 points. "You'd think they would pick up on some of thethings we were doing, but they didn't. It was kind of sad."
The Cardinal (18-0, 6-0 Pac-10), the nation's only unbeaten team, have wonseven straight against the Huskies. The win was the team's 12th of the seasonby more than 20 points.
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery is downplaying the perfect start and istrying to keep his team focused on the conference race.
"We've got to continue to try and win as many games as we can if we want towin the conference," Montgomery said.
Stanford still has to play Arizona at Maples Pavilion, and UCLA and USCtwice.
Casey Jacobsen led Stanford with 16 points and Jarron Collins had 10. TheCardinal shot 56.9 percent, surpassing their conference-leading 50.1 average.
Washington (8-11, 2-5) made five of its first six shots, then shot 5-for-23through the rest of the first half and faced a 53-27 halftime deficit. TheHuskies struggled to find shots against Stanford's tough man defense andcouldn't keep up once the Cardinal started connecting from 3-point range.
"When we were vulnerable, they pounced on us," said Washington coach BobBender. "That's what good teams do."
McDonald and Mendez combined to shoot 8-for-9 in the first half, including6-for-7 from 3-point range. Stanford shot 47 percent from beyond the arc in thefirst half. Mendez scored seven straight for the Cardinal just before halftime.
Stanford had used all 12 of its players by halftime.
The Huskies led 12-11 on Thalo Green's jumper at 15:40, then the Cardinalscored 17 unanswered points. Twelve of those points came on 3-pointers andthree on Jarron Collins' three-point play.
Washington's leading scorer, forward Will Perkins, had hisconference-leading eighth double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Hisprevious double-double was against Arizona and 7-foot-1 Loren Woods on Jan. 13.
"Stanford will slow things down and just work you over from the inside andoutside," Perkins said. "They're patient and good."
Stanford's twin brothers, Jarron and Jason Collins, combined for 17 pointsand six rebounds. Together they had been averaging 26 points and 15.4 rebounds.
The Cardinal, two-time defending Pac-10 champions, lead the Pac-10 in 12categories and are shooting better from 3-point range (50.1) than the Huskiesare shooting from the field (41.3).
Stanford's Tyler Besecker missed the trip because of food poisoning.
In 15 tries against No. 1-ranked teams, Washington's only win was a 69-68victory over UCLA on Feb. 22, 1979.