Stanford Gets All the Breaks

Turning its rebounding advantage into a fast break clinic, No. 19 Stanford ran itself to an easy victory at Palo Alto.

Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt each scored 15 points and the Cardinal remained unbeaten at home with an 83-50 victory over Washington State on Thursday night.

“That was our best fast break all year bar none,” Jacobsen said. “It was nice to get some easy baskets like that and stretch it out.”

Julius Barnes had 12 points as the Cardinal, 10-4 overall and 3-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, broke out of a slump that saw it win only three of its previous six games.

Stanford, the conference’s top rebounding team, was able to get several easy baskets--16 points in the first half on layups and dunks--to open a wide margin early. The Cardinal never trailed in increasing its home record this season to 6-0.

“That was a nice confidence booster for us,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “Believe it or not, we needed a confidence booster.”

The fast-paced offense helped the Cardinal shoot 50% from the field, including a combined 11 for 16 by Borchardt and Barnes.

Washington State (4-11, 0-7) lost its 11th in a row to Stanford.

St. John’s 64, No. 22 Boston College 57--Marcus Hatten had 18 points and eight assists at Boston for the Red Storm (12-4, 3-2 in the Big East), which fell behind, 16-2, before rallying for its third victory in as many games against ranked teams.

Ryan Sidney scored 20 points and Troy Bell and Uka Agbai each had 12 for Boston College (13-4, 2-3), which has lost its last three home games after winning the previous 25. In the three losses, Bell made one of 18 three-point attempts.

California 62, Washington 50--Joe Shipp scored 18 points, and freshman Jamal Sampson had 15 points and a season-high 17 rebounds as the Golden Bears won at Berkeley.

California (12-3, 3-2 in the Pac-10) improved to 11-0 at home. Doug Wrenn scored 19 points to lead Washington (7-10, 1-6).

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Top 25 Women

Kara Lawson scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half, and No. 2 Tennessee (15-1, 4-0 in the Southeastern Conference) won its 26th consecutive game over No. 8 South Carolina (16-2, 4-1) with an 80-61 victory at Columbia, S.C. Lawson made two free throws and a three-pointer during a 15-3 run that turned a three-point deficit into a 57-48 lead. ... Senior Cori Enghusen scored 24 points in 24 minutes as No. 4 Stanford (17-1, 7-0 in the Pac-10) cruised to a 104-57 victory over Washington State (2-16, 0-8) at Pullman, Wash.