Jan. 6, 2011
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Josh Owens powered his way to 15 points and 11 rebounds, and Stanford earned a conference road win by beating Arizona State 55-41 Thursday night.
Coming off a resounding victory in its Pac-10 home opener, Stanford (9-4, 2-0) got the road portion of the conference schedule off to a good start. The Cardinal didn't shoot particularly well but took advantage of Arizona State (8-6, 1-2) not having injured point guard Jamelle McMillan, forcing 12 first-half turnovers to build an 11-point lead.
The Sun Devils, back in Tempe after playing the fewest home games of any major conference school, managed a late first-half rally but struggled offensively the rest of the time in their first conference home game.
Trent Locket, Ruslan Pateev and Carrick Felix had 10 points each for Arizona State, which shot 1 of 14 from 3-point range.
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Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins:
Opening Statement:
"This was a tough game, a real defensive battle. You can look at the field goal percentages and see that. In the second half, I thought we defended better and located their shooters, preventing their offensive looks. I really have to give our guys credit for being patient."
On Stanford's defense, which ranks tops in the Pac-10:
"With so many new players this year, we had to really embrace defense because we knew that offense was going to take some time. So we made a commitment there and it's good to see guys being rewarded for their progress. Guys are grasping the defensive concepts we are teaching, playing hard and taking pride on that end of the floor."
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NOTES: Josh Owens notched his team-leading third double-double, finishing with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds ... Jarrett Mann contributed a season-high 11 points, grabbed seven boards and finished 5-7 from the charity stripe. More importantly, Mann played lock-down defense on Arizona State's Ty Abbott, holding the Sun Devil senior to 5-12 shooting ... After being outrebounded 18-9 in the first half, Stanford owned a 25-8 edge on the glass in the second half ... Arizona State's 41 points were the club's fewest in the 36-year history of Wells Fargo Arena. Furthermore, the 41 points allowed represented the lowest total in a Pac-10 road game for a Stanford opponent since a 39-37 Cardinal victory at Washington State back on Feb. 25, 2006 ... Stanford forced at least 15 turnovers for the ninth time in 13 games this year ... Jeremy Green's only three-pointer of the game was a crucial one, as it extended Stanford's streak of at least one made three-pointer in a game to 300. The lengthy streak dates back to Nov. 24, 2001, when Stanford was 0-6 from long range against Purdue ... All five Stanford's starters played at least 30 minutes ...Entering tonight's contest, Stanford was just 3-15 on the road in Pac-10 play over the last two seasons.