Feb. 24, 2001
By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Sports Writer
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Jason Collins got riled up early in Stanford's gameagainst Washington. Turns out that's good for him.
Collins scored a career-high 33 points as No.1-ranked Stanford easilydefeated Washington 99-79 Saturday, handing the Huskies their sixth straightloss.
Collins, who also had eight rebounds, went on a personal 10-0 run to put theCardinal up 92-62 with 3:57 left for their biggest lead of the game.
"I think Jason got excited because he got fouled hard early, and that getshim turned up," coach Mike Montgomery said.
A more relaxed Collins, who signed autographs and posed for pictures withyoung fans after the game, said Washington didn't play dirty, he just gotknocked around.
"I've always felt that when you get played hard, you need to try to getback in there," he said.
It was the first time a Stanford player has had 30 or more points in a gamesince Chris Weems had 32 against Washington in the 1997-98 season. Weems alsohad 34 against Oregon that season.
Casey Jacobsen added 21 points for Stanford (25-1, 13-1 Pacific-10), whichshot 62 percent for the game.
The Huskies (3-12, 9-18) were led by Michael Johnson, Will Perkins andCurtis Allen, all with 14 points. Stanford held Allen, Washington's top scorer,to just three points in the first half.
"You've got to play hard-nosed defense against these guys for 40 minutes,"Washington coach Bob Bender said. "We didn't do that tonight."
The Cardinal have won eight consecutive games against Washington, and ninestraight against the Huskies at Maples Pavilion.
Collins and his twin brother Jarron went on a 12-0 run themselves early inthe second half to stretch the Cardinal lead to 67-42.
Jarron Collins finished with 12 points.
Stanford jumped out to an early 13-3 lead on Mike McDonald's 3-pointer with16:22 to go in the first half. The Cardinal stretched the lead to 32-20 onJacobsen's 3-pointer with 9:16 left.
From there, Stanford went on an 11-3 run to take a 20-point lead at 43-23 onJason Collin's shot with an assist by Jacobsen.
The Huskies tried to chip away at the lead, but could only come within 49-37before settling for a 53-38 deficit at halftime.
The Cardinal shot 69 percent from the floor in the first half, and hit 7 of12 3-point attempts.
Washington is 1-25 against top-ranked teams. Their lone win was over No.1-ranked UCLA in 1979.
With four games left, Stanford is atop the Pacific-10 Conference, but UCLA(12-2) and Arizona (11-3) are keeping the race for the title tight.
The Cardinal are seeking their third-straight conference championship -something they haven't done since 1936-38 with the Pacific Coast Conference.
Stanford's only loss this season came against UCLA, which edged Oregon State68-65 in overtime earlier Saturday. The Cardinal play the Bruins again nextweek in Los Angeles.