Stanford Pulls Out All Stops

Another high-powered offense met its match against the defense of No. 2-ranked Stanford.

The Cardinal, which holds opponents to the lowest shooting percentage in the nation at .337, was on its defensive game again in a 76-61 victory over No. 24 Oregon Thursday night at Palo Alto.

Stanford, 20-1 overall and 9-1 in the Pacific 10, held Oregon (16-5, 7-3) to 36% shooting. The Ducks came into the game shooting 49%--11th in the nation--and averaging 77.4 points. The Cardinal allows an average of 57.5 points.

Stanford, which reached 20 victories for a school-record sixth consecutive season, never trailed in the game--leading by 11 points at halftime and by as many as 19 in the second half.

Casey Jacobsen and Mark Madsen each had 19 points for Stanford. Alex Scales had 14 points for Oregon, but A.D. Smith--the team’s leading scorer at 15.7 points a game--was held to 11.

Louisville 82, No. 4 Syracuse 69--The Cardinals (13-9) shot 58% at Louisville, Ky., in handing the Orangemen (19-2) their second consecutive loss. Tony Williams had 20 points and eight rebounds for Louisville, which has defeated four ranked opponents. Jason Hart had 16 points for Syracuse, which made only five of 19 three-point shots and eight of 17 free throws.

No. 7 Arizona 65, Washington 56--Loren Woods had a career-high 29 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots and the Wildcats (20-4, 9-1 in the Pacific 10) withstood a second-half comeback by the Huskies (8-14, 3-7) at Seattle. Arizona, which was ahead by scores of 16-1 and 32-12 in the first half, had its lead cut to 56-51 with 4:50 to play before Woods restored order by making an 18-foot shot and two free throws. Woods, a 7-foot-1 junior center who transferred from Wake Forest and became eligible this season, made 12 of 20 shots.

No. 19 Temple 75, Fordham 61--Pepe Sanchez doubled his season high with 20 points to lead the Owls (17-4, 10-1 in the Atlantic 10) to their 19th consecutive home-court victory at Philadelphia. Fordham (11-11, 4-6) became the first team in eight games to score more than 50 points against Temple, which leads the nation in fewest points allowed per game (52.8).

No. 21 Utah 83, San Diego State 65--Junior center Nate Althoff, starting in place of injured leading scorer Hanno Mottola, had a career-high 22 points to lead the Utes (18-4, 7-1 in the Mountain West Conference) past the Aztecs (5-16, 0-8) at Salt Lake City.

OTHER GAMES

Donte Smith made five of six three-point shots and had 19 points to lead California (14-8, 5-5 Pac-10) to a 70-68 victory over Oregon State (10-11, 2-8) at Berkeley. The Beavers cut a 10-point deficit to two points in the final 1:12, with Golden Bear freshman Brian Wethers knocking the ball out of Josh Steinthal’s hands at the buzzer as he prepared to take what could have been a game-winning three-point shot. . . . Kyle Dodd made a three-point shot with nine seconds left in overtime for the go-ahead basket for Arizona State (13-9, 5-5) in an 81-79 victory over Washington State (5-14, 0-10) at Pullman, Wash. The Sun Devils’ Eddie House, the Pacific 10’s leading scorer at 22.4 points a game, had 27. . . . New Mexico State (15-6, 6-3 Big West) was a 74-62 winner over Idaho (9-12, 3-6), allowing Coach Lou Henson to move into a tie for 12th place on the all-time NCAA list with former Texas El Paso coach Don Haskins with 719 wins.

WOMEN

Tamika Catchings scored 19 points and No. 2 Tennessee (20-3, 8-1 in the Southeastern Conference) held Mississippi (11-11, 0-9) to 30% shooting in a 70-49 victory at Oxnard, Miss. . . . Coco Miller, who had shot only 38% over her previous 10 games, made six of 12 attempts from the field and had a game-high 17 points for No. 3 Georgia (24-2, 9-1 in the SEC) in an 84-61 victory over South Carolina (12-11, 2-7) at Athens, Ga. . . . Reserve Catrina Frierson scored 18 points as No. 4 Louisiana Tech (18-2, 9-0 in the Sun Belt Conference) got 51 points from its bench in an 89-62 victory over Florida International (9-12, 4-6) at Ruston, La. . . . Shondra Johnson made four free throws in the final 1:06 to lift Alabama (14-8, 14-8 in the SEC) to a 72-68 victory over No. 7 Louisiana State (18-4, 7-2) at Tuscaloosa, Ala. . . . Amy Simpson and Kaayla Chones each scored 15 points as No. 11 North Carolina State (19-4, 10-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit in a 74-66 victory over Maryland (13-10, 4-8) at College Park, Md. . . . Katie Douglas scored 19 points to lead No. 15 Purdue (17-5, 9-3 in the Big Ten) to its eighth conference victory in a row--75-62 over Indiana (9-13, 4-7) at West Lafayette, Ind.

Reshea Bristol celebrated her 22nd birthday by making her first six shots and scoring a season-high 18 points for No. 16 Arizona (19-3, 8-2 in the Pacific 10) in a 96-81 victory over Washington (7-15, 3-7) at Tucson, Ariz. . . . Zuzi Klimesova had 15 points and hauled down 10 rebounds for Vanderbilt (16-8, 4-5 in the SEC) in a 77-62 victory over No. 21 Mississippi State (17-5, 6-5) at Nashville, Tenn. . . . Schuye LaRue scored 15 points to lead No. 22 Virginia (18-6, 10-2 in the ACC) to a 74-59 victory over Florida State (9-13, 2-9) at Charlottesville, Va. . . . Lynn Pride scored 21 points to lead No. 23 Kansas (17-5, 8-2 in the Big 12) to a 64-52 victory over Texas (15-8, 6-4) at Lawrence, Kan. . . . Angelina Wolvert scored the go-ahead basket with 13 seconds remaining for Oregon (16-7, 7-3 in the Pacific 10) in a 61-57 victory over No. 24 Stanford (14-6, 7-3) at Eugene, Ore. . . . No. 25 Tulane (20-3, 9-3 in Conference USA) had 17 steals and seven blocked shots in an 83-53 victory over Houston (6-16, 3-9) at New Orleans.