Mar. 14, 1997
Weems, Knight Propel Cardinal Past Oklahoma, 80-67, in Opening Round of NCAA Tournament
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Kris Weems scored 20 points and Brevin Knight added 18 assixth-seeded Stanford used a second-half run to break open atight game and defeat 11th-seeded Oklahoma, 80-67, in an NCAAWest Region first-round matchup at Tucson, Arizona.
Tim Young added 15, including the go-ahead basket just underfour minutes into the second half. Stanford (21-7) will facethird-seeded Wake Forest on Sunday.
Nate Erdmann, the only Sooner to hit a field goal in the finaleight minutes, led Oklahoma (19-11) with 23 points.
After shooting 50 percent in the first half (14-of-28) theSooners went cold over the final 20 minutes, connecting on just10-of-32 attempts. Oklahoma also saw three players foul out inthe second half.
"We're a team with a very small margin of error," Sooner coachKelvin Sampson said. "Our foul trouble will affect us more sothan it will someone else because of depth at certain positions. We've seen a lot of good guards but when you look atcategories, all the categories that are representative of agreat guard, this kid (Knight) scores high in just about everyone."
Weems made 7-of-12 shots from the floor, including a pair ofthree-pointers, and was 4-for-4 from the line. Knight, who shotpoorly in the first half, added seven rebounds, 10 assists and apair of steal and led the Cardinal back in the second half.Young finished with 16 and eight boards.
"I think I asserted myself a little bit more in the secondhalf," Knight said. "First half I was a little bit passive,pretty much trying to get a feel of the way they were going toplay me...I've seen so many different defenses throughout theyear that I just wanted to get a feel of how their players weregoing to react to me."
The Sooners drew within 70-65 on a two-pointer by Erdmann with2:10 to go. But Mark Madsen hit a basket and Young followedwith a pair of free throws for a 74-65 advantage. Knight thensealed the win with a basket with 63 seconds to play.
"Obviously, Brevin didn't shoot that well, but he had a greatfloor game, that gets the other guys more involved. I thinkthat's what makes us a good team," Weems said.
Madsen came off the bench to sink all four of his shots, grabnine rebounds, and hand out a pair of assists in 22 minutes.
The teams played nearly error-free ball, with Oklahomacommitting eight turnovers and Stanford just five.
OKLAHOMA (67) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpNajera 23 2-4 1-2 1-3 0 5 5Erdmann 40 9-20 0-0 2-7 3 2 22Wiley 33 1-4 2-2 2-5 0 3 4Heskett 10 0-2 0-0 1-1 1 1 0Brewer 31 5-13 6-9 1-4 3 5 16Evans 11 1-5 0-2 1-3 0 3 2Moore 31 6-10 5-5 2-4 0 5 18Stone 15 0-0 0-0 1-1 1 1 0Allison 6 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 0_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 24-60 14-20 11-28 8 26 67_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.400, FT-.700. 3-Point Goals:5-17, .294 (Erdmann 4-10, Heskett 0-2, Brewer0-2, Moore 1-2, Allison 0-1). Team rebounds: 4.Blocked shots: 2 (Wiley, Stone). Turnovers: 8(Brewer 3, Wiley 2, Evans, Moore, Najera).Steals: 1 (Moore).STANFORD (80) fg ft rb min m-a m-a o-t a pf tpWeems 36 7-12 4-4 0-1 0 1 20Sauer 23 2-7 2-2 1-3 2 1 7Young 29 5-6 6-8 2-8 1 4 16Lee 16 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 4 0Knight 38 5-14 8-10 1-7 10 3 18Moseley 6 0-3 0-0 2-3 0 2 0Jackson 24 2-3 0-0 0-2 2 1 5Van Elswyk 6 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 0 2Madsen 22 4-4 4-7 3-9 2 2 12_______________________________________________TOTALS 200 26-54 24-32 9-33 18 18 80_______________________________________________Percentages: FG-.481, FT-.750. 3-Point Goals:4-13, .308 (Weems 2-5, Sauer 1-2, Knight 0-2,Moseley 0-2, Jackson 1-2). Team rebounds: 4.Blocked shots: 2 (Weems, Knight). Turnovers: 5(Sauer 2, Lee, Moseley, Young). Steals: 4 (Knight2, Madsen, Weems).__________________________________Oklahoma 33 34 - 67Stanford 33 47 - 80__________________________________Technical fouls: None. A: 13,325. Officials:Silverster, Bob Donato, Stanley Rote.