Pacific 10 Roundup : Oregon State Beats Stanford, Takes Over First Place

Jose Ortiz scored 22 points and Oregon State took the Pacific 10 Conference lead from UCLA by downing Stanford, 71-59, Thursday night at Corvallis, Ore.

The Beavers (14-4, 7-3) led most of the way, but Todd Lichti sank two free throws with 4:30 left to get Stanford (11-8, 5-5) within 53-49.

Ortiz scored from the baseline and Eric Knox added a pair of free throws to boost the lead to 57-49. Lichti, who had 18 points, twice cut the lead to six points with free throws before Oregon State pulled away at the finish.

Knox scored 16 points for the Beavers, and Gary Payton had 14 points and 9 assists.

Oregon 86, California 73--David Girley scored 23 points to lead the Ducks to a come-from-behind victory over the Bears at Eugene, Ore.

Girley hit 5 of 6 shots from the three-point range to help the Ducks (11-8, 5-5) rally from a 42-35 halftime deficit.

Oregon made the first three baskets of the second half to cut the margin to one point, and took the lead with 15 minutes remaining on a rebound basket by center Sven Meyer--who scored five straight Oregon baskets during a six-minute stretch early in the second half.

Cal (13-9, 6-4) regained the lead on Kevin Johnson’s jump shot, 59-57, but Oregon went ahead for good, 60-59, on a 3-point shot by Anthony Taylor with 6:50 left.

Johnson scored 23 points for Cal and Dave Butler added 18. Meyer had 20 for the Ducks.

Arizona 82, Arizona State 67--Sean Elliott scored 22 points to lead the Wildcats past the Sun Devils at Tempe, Ariz.

The Wildcats (11-7, 6-3) built a 40-28 halftime lead. When Arizona State (6-11, 2-7) pulled to within 58-53 early in the second half, Arizona regained control on 3-point shots by Ken Lofton, Elliott and Craig McMillan.