Feb 9, 2002
By RICK EYMER
Associated Press Writer
STANFORD, Calif. - Teyo Johnson missed the first month of thebasketball season because of his commitment to the Stanford football team. He'sstarting to make up for lost time.
Johnson scored a career-high 15 points as No. 20 Stanford defeated OregonState 77-55 on Saturday night.
"It always takes a couple of months to get into the rhythm of the game andstuff," said Johnson, a wide receiver for the football team, which played inthe Seattle Bowl on Dec. 27. "I feel like right now I'm kind of getting intobasketball shape."
Johnson played 26 minutes against the Beavers, two games after playing aseason-high 31 minutes. He was 4-of-7 from the field, and 5-of-6 from the foulline. He also added five rebounds and three assists.
"Being on the bench motivates you to work harder," Johnson said. "Youwant to put yourself in a position to be considered for a starting spot."
Curtis Borchardt had 20 points and 12 rebounds to record his fourth straightdouble-double, and 10th of the season.
Casey Jacobsen added 13 points as the Cardinal (15-6, 8-4 Pac-10) won theirninth straight against the Beavers at home.
"Stanford has improved a lot since the last time we played," Oregon Statecoach Ritchie McKay said. "They're harder to defend now. We junked it up onJacobsen and it kind of worked, but the rest of the team is maturing with eachgame."
J.S. Nash scored 12 points to lead Oregon State (10-13, 3-10), which lostits fourth straight and fell to 0-8 against ranked opponents.
Stanford is part of a four-way tie for third place in the Pac-10, where onegame separates first from sixth.
"I can't believe the standings," Stanford senior point guard TonyGiovacchini said. "It's nothing like I've ever seen in my experience here.It's anybody's title and I'm glad we're in the hunt."
The Beavers, one of the top defensive teams in the conference, kept it closemost of the way against one of the top offensive teams.
Stanford opened a 57-47 lead after Jacobsen scored with 7:52 remaining toplay. The Cardinal maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
"It looked pretty dicey there for a while," Stanford coach Mike Montgomerysaid. "Teyo came in and gave us a boost with a couple of 3s. It wasn't pretty,but I'll take it."
The Beavers played without their top two scorers and rebounders for thefinal three minutes. Junior forward Philip Ricci fouled with 10 points and onerebound at 5:13, while junior forward Brian Jackson left 2 minutes later withseven points and no rebounds.
"Ricci is a very good rebounder, but he never got untracked tonight,"McKay said. "They kept him off the boards as well as anyone has done."
Stanford proved just as effective defensively, limiting Oregon State toseven shots in the first 15 minutes of the second half. The 55 points were thesecond-lowest allowed by the Cardinal this season.
Oregon State, 10th in scoring offense in the Pac-10, led by as many as sevenpoints through the first 10 minutes, but the Cardinal went on an 11-2 run totake the lead for good at 10:14 of the first half. Borchardt hit a drivinglayup to give Stanford its first lead.
The Cardinal led 35-30 at halftime.
After Oregon State took a 14-7 lead 8 minutes in, Stanford outscored theBeavers 70-31 the rest of the way.
Jackson, Oregon State's second-leading scorer and rebounder, did not startfor the first time this season. He missed Thursday's game at Cal with anabdominal strain, and entered Saturday's game with 6:17 left in the first half.
Stanford's Joe Kirchofer, coming off one of his finest efforts in anovertime victory against Oregon, scored five points in his first collegiatestart.
Jimmie Haywood scored 10 points for the Beavers.