March 12, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- Jon Brockman scored 20 points, Isaiah Thomas sparked a decisive second-half spurt with nine points and No. 13 Washington defeated Stanford 85-73 in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday.
The Huskies (25-7) will play 23rd-ranked Arizona State (23-8) in Friday's semifinals at Staples Center.
Anthony Goods scored 26 points after getting 23 in a win against Oregon State on Wednesday night for the Cardinal, who were sent packing a year after losing to UCLA in the title game.
Washington, the tournament's top seed for the first time, has won six in a row and nine of its last 10. The Huskies completed a three-game sweep of the Cardinal (18-13) by winning the teams' first meeting in the tournament since 2005.
Landry Fields had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds and freshman Jeremy Green added 13 points for Stanford, which fell to 11-11 all-time in the tournament. Those two, along with Goods, combined for 55 of Stanford's points, while starter Lawrence Hill finished with four points on 2-of-14 shooting.
The Cardinal kept it close throughout the first half, when the game was tied eight times.
Tied at 27-all, the Huskies outscored the Cardinal 11-8 to end the half ahead 38-35. Elston Turner hit three consecutive 3-pointers and Justin Holiday dunked in the spurt. The Cardinal got two 3-pointers, including a buzzer-beater by Kenny Brown, who finished with 11.
But Thomas, who missed all six of his shots in the first half, suddenly found his shooting touch.
The freshman ran off seven points in a row and hit another basket, and Brockman added five points, during Washington's 16-11 run that opened the second half and put the Huskies ahead for good, 54-46.
Thomas finished with 14 points and a career-high nine rebounds.
The Cardinal cut their deficit to five points four times down the stretch, twice on baskets by Goods and twice by Green. But Washington always answered, and scored 12 in a row to pull away.
NOTES
Stanford stands at 18-13 overall and 6-12 Pac-10 play. The Cardinal figures to qualify for the postseason (NIT, CBI) and will learn its status on Sunday afternoon. Anthony Goods poured in a season-best 26 points on 8-17 shooting. He was 9-9 from the charity stripe.
Landry Fields posted his fifth double-double of the year with 16 points and 15 boards. It was his second double-double of the season against Washington, as he totaled 22 points and 10 rebounds against the Huskies on Feb. 8.
Mitch Johnson dished out five assists, moving into sole possession of second place in assists in the school records books. Johnson now has 518 for his career and trails only Brevin Knight (780) in that category.
Stanford forced Washington into 21 turnovers.
For the 16th time this year, at least four different Stanford players scored in double-figures, doubling last year's total of eight. On Thursday against Washington, the Cardinal was led by Anthony Goods (26), Landry Fields (16), Jeremy Green (13) and Kenny Brown (11).
Stanford finished 8-28 from beyond the arc (5-20 in the second half) while Washington was 5-9.