Washington Gets Fouled Up and Stanford Escapes, 74-72

Kris Weems wasn’t sure why he was so open on the game-winning shot that kept fifth-ranked Stanford unbeaten on Saturday.

Weems took an inbounds pass in backcourt with 5.1 seconds left, dribbled untouched to the top of the key and made an uncontested three-point shot as time expired to give Stanford a 74-72 victory over Washington in a Pacific 10 game at Seattle.

The Cardinal, 18-0 overall and 7-0 in the Pacific 10, has the nation’s longest win streak and is one of two unbeaten teams, with No. 4 Utah (17-0) being the other.

“I don’t know where my man was,” Weems said. “He must have been way behind me.”

Teammate Pete Van Elswyk made sure that neither his man nor Washington’s Deon Luton, who was supposed to be on Weems, had any chance to get near him.

“I got a good little screen,” Van Elswyk said. “I grabbed them both.”

That Weems wasn’t touched after he got the inbounds pass was surprising because Washington (12-4, 5-2) had two fouls to give.

“We had a little confusion off the screen and consequently didn’t really even have anybody on Weems as he brought the ball upcourt,” Washington Coach Bob Bender said.

Said Washington guard Donald Watts, whose running five-foot basket with 5.1 seconds left gave his team a 72-71 lead: “The initial plan was to foul but that didn’t happen.”

Only 17 fouls were called and 12 free throws attempted as the referees let both teams play aggressive defense.

Arthur Lee had 17 points and 10 assists, and Tim Young had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Stanford, which plays No. 6 Arizona at Maples Pavilion on Thursday.

Watts led Washington with 21 points.

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Senior guard Jeremy Veal had a game-high 20 points and went over 1,700 for his career as Arizona State (13-7, 3-4) was a 67-51 winner over Oregon (7-10, 2-6) at Tempe, Ariz. . . . Thomas Kilgore had a season-high 21 points for California (7-8, 3-4) in an 86-75 victory over Washington State (8-10, 1-6) at Pullman, Wash.