Nov. 28, 2004
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Travis Niesen had career highs of 31 points and11 rebounds for his second career double-double, and Santa Clara ended aneight-game losing streak against Stanford with a 86-76 win Sunday night.
Dan Grunfeld scored a career-high 26 points and Rob Little added 15 forStanford, which hadn't lost to Santa Clara since the 1989-90 season. ChrisHernandez had 10 points and eight assists.
The cold-shooting Cardinal played a sloppy game and had trouble controllingloose balls. They were held without a field goal for more than five minutes inthe second half and shot 37.5 percent.
For the Broncos (4-2), it was their second upset victory in less than twoweeks, and Niesen celebrated this in a similar manner: pumping his fist andyelling with the home crowd.
The Broncos beat North Carolina by 11 points at the Pete Newell Challenge onNov. 19.
Santa Clara used a 12-3 spurt midway through the second half to build a52-45 lead with 9:50 left - a run that included a goaltending call againstStanford's Matt Haryasz that gave Jordan Legge two points. Haryasz finishedwith nine points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:02 left.
The Broncos put the final touches on the victory when Doron Perkins threw analley-oop to Tristan Parham for a dunk with 1:40 left. Perkins finished with 12points and four assists.
Stanford (2-3) finished sixth in the eight-team Maui Invitational last weekand never looked completely comfortable in the first meeting between theseteams since the championship game of the Cable Car Classic in 2000, won 78-63by the Cardinal.
Stanford, 30-2 last season and ranked No. 1 in the nation, needed overtimeto beat its last West Coast Conference opponent, a 93-83 win over San Franciscoin the Pete Newell Challenge.
The Cardinal started the game 0-for-12 and didn't get a field goal untilLittle's hook shot at the 11:59 mark of the first half. They shot 31 percent inthe first half to 40 percent for the Broncos, but still led Santa Clara 29-28at the break.
Stanford now takes a two-week break for finals and won't play again untilDec. 11 at Michigan State. The Cardinal play Dec. 13 at Denver before returninghome to make their debut in the Maples Pavilion, which underwent a $30 millionfacelift over the past nine months.