March 13, 2008
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Brook Lopez had 20 points and 15 rebounds, including 10 in a second-half spurt that helped No. 11 Stanford pull away to a 75-64 victory over Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.
The second-seeded Cardinal (25-6) advanced to Friday's semifinals against No. 3 seed Washington State, which beat Oregon 75-70. The Cardinal swept the Cougars (24-7) during the regular season.
Jerryd Bayless led seventh-seeded Arizona (19-14) with 18 points. Jordan Hill added 16 and Chase Budinger 13.
Robin Lopez, the 7-foot twin brother of Brook, added 14 points. Lawrence Hill, Mitch Johnson and Fred Washington had 11 points each.
Brook Lopez had 11 defensive rebounds and Johnson added 10 rebounds, helping Stanford dominate the boards, 50-27.
Stanford swept Arizona during the regular season by a combined five points, and the third meeting was just as close until the final 11 1/2 minutes.
That's when Lawrence Hill launched the game-breaking 20-5 run on a jumper that snapped a 49-all tie. Brook Lopez scored 10 points to put the Cardinal ahead for good, 69-54, with 4:55 remaining.
The Wildcats, who had been matching the Cardinal basket-for-basket until then, went cold and committed four of their nine turnovers in the spurt.
Arizona cut its deficit to 73-64 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Jawann McClellan and Nic Wise with 2:23 remaining. After a timeout, Robin Lopez blocked Bayless and Arizona interim coach Kevin O'Neill angrily smacked his left hand on the scorer's table. Washington stole the ball, allowing the Cardinal to control the closing seconds.
The start of the second half duplicated the first 20 minutes, with the teams tied six times and Stanford never ahead by more than three points until the Cardinal's decisive run.
Jordan Hill scored Arizona's first six points of the game while the Cardinal opened 0-for-6. The teams were tied for a stretch before Brook Lopez's basket gave Stanford its first lead, 21-19.
From there, the Wildcats outscored the Cardinal 16-14--taking a four-point lead three times--but the teams went into halftime tied at 35 after Johnson stole the ball and fed Lawrence Hill for the score.
Stanford improved to 9-9 all-time in Pac-10 Tournament games. Tonight was the Cardinal's first Pac-10 Tournament victory since a 60-58 win over Washington State back on Mar. 10, 2005. Stanford is 13-0 this year when scoring at least 70 points. Stanford is 5-1 in games following a loss. Stanford is 18-0 when connecting at a 40-percent or better rate from the field while holding its opponents to a percentage under 40. With tonight's victory, the Cardinal achieved its ninth 25-win season in program history. Brook Lopez scored in double-figures for the 17th consecutive game and 21st overall. He also posted his seventh double-double (20 points, 15 rebounds) of the year and third in a row. Tonight marked the first time Stanford and its opponent were tied at halftime since Feb. 20, 2003 (38-38 at USC). The Cardinal won that game 73-68. Stanford is 20-1 when leading at intermission and 4-5 when trailing. Stanford owned a 50-27 advantage in the rebounding department, representing the 26th time this year the Cardinal has grabbed more boards than its opponent. Mitch Johnson nearly registered a triple-double with 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Fred Washington (11 points) scored in double-figures for the third time this year and first since Nov. 27 against Sacramento State.