Stanford Beats California by 51

Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery knows his team better than anyone, and even he had a hard time believing what he was seeing Saturday.

In a display of absolute domination, second-ranked Stanford overwhelmed rival California, 101-50, at Palo Alto.

The loss was the worst ever for California, surpassing a 44-point defeat against UCLA in 1968 when the Bruins were led by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then known as Lew Alcindor.

“That shouldn’t happen. We’re not 51 points better, and we know that,” Montgomery said. “It was just one of those games where everything we were shooting went in. I’ve been on the other end before. We did play well, but not only was this not expected, it probably won’t happen again.”

David Moseley scored a career-high 28 points, getting 14 during a 25-4 run that gave Stanford, 22-1 overall and 11-1 in the Pacific 10, a 42-18 lead with three minutes left before halftime.

When Casey Jacobsen connected on a three-point shot with 14:11 remaining, Stanford was up 70-30 and the crowd mocked California (14-10, 5-7) by chanting, “Down by 40! Down by 40!”

“We kind of lost our composure late in the first half when Moseley started nailing the shots from the outside,” California Coach Ben Braun said. “Give him credit. He stepped up early. He came off some tough screens and made them.”

Jacobsen finished with 15 points and Mark Madsen had 13 points and 10 rebounds as Stanford won its 10th in a row since its only loss of the season--to Arizona last month. Jason Collins had 12 points and 10 rebounds and his twin, Jarron, had 11 points.

Stanford shot 67.7% in the first half en route to a 50-23 lead and finished at 64.9%. The Cardinal’s defense, ranked No. 1 in the nation in field-goal percentage, held the Golden Bears to 33.3%.

It was Stanford’s seventh consecutive victory over California--the longest streak against its rival. The biggest margin of victory in the 89-year-old series previously was Stanford’s 74-42 win in 1962.

Washington 67, Oregon 58--Junior forward Thalo Green scored 14 of his career-high 16 points in the second half at Eugene, Ore., as the Huskies (9-16, 4-9) stunned the Ducks (18-6, 9-4). Oregon shot a season-low 30% and missed 13 free throws in the second half.

Oregon State 64, Washington State 56--Josh Steinthal scored 18 points for the Beavers (12-12, 4-9) at Corvallis, Ore. Mike Bush had 26 points for Washington State (5-17, 0-13).