Stanford, Cal Triumph in the Desert

Curtis Borchardt scored 28 points, one shy of his career-high, to pick up the slack from an injured Casey Jacobsen and No. 17 Stanford held off No. 14 Arizona, 76-71, Thursday night in Tucson.

The 7-foot junior scored 10 points over the final 1:44, including going six for six from the free-throw line in the last 15 seconds. He also got an offensive rebound after teammate Teyo Johnson missed two free throws with six seconds to go and Stanford, 18-8 overall and 11-6 in the Pacific 10 Conference, leading, 74-71.

Borchardt, who finished 11 for 11 from the line, was fouled by Salim Stoudamire on the play and made two free throws with 4.2 seconds left to seal the victory.

Jason Gardner scored 33 points for the Wildcats (18-7, 11-6), whose loss ended any shot at a share of the Pac-10 title. Stanford, Arizona, USC and UCLA are all tied for third.

Jacobsen, the Pac-10’s leading scorer at 23.8 points per game, left the game with 4:07 to go in the first half with a cut above his right eye. He received five stitches and returned early in the second half, but a more extensive medical exam was planned after the game.

The junior, who was an All-American last season, finished with a season-low six points on two-for-seven shooting.

With Stanford leading, 68-66, Johnson’s pass was intercepted by Gardner, who threw it to Rick Anderson streaking to the basket. But Johnson blocked Anderson’s layup as the crowd booed loudly, believing a foul should have been called.

California 91, Arizona State 80--Shantay Legans and Amit Tamir each made a late three-point basket that allowed the No. 21-ranked Bears to pull away from the Sun Devils in Tempe, Ariz.

Legans, who had 20 points, five assists and four steals, made his fourth three-point shot in as many tries with 2:45 to play, opening a 77-70 lead. Tamir, who finished with 18 points and seven rebounds, made his 25 seconds later to make it 80-72.

Joe Shipp also had 18 points for the Bears (21-6, 12-5), who are alone in second place in the conference, one game behind Oregon.

Tommy Smith had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Arizona State (14-12, 7-10), while injured center Chad Prewitt had 17 of his 19 points in the second half. Prewitt partially tore a ligament in his right elbow during practice on Tuesday.

“I usually have the ball in close situations like that,” Legans said of his crucial basket. “The coaches have confidence in me, and I have confidence in myself, so I just shot it.”

Cal, which finished 17-1 at home, rallied to win for the fourth time in nine road games.

The Sun Devils led, 59-53, after Smith made a layup off an inbounds pass with 9:36 to play.

But they went nearly six minutes without another field goal, and Cal caught up and went ahead with a 17-4 run that lasted 4:23.

“We took advantage of some mismatches, and everybody contributed to this one,” Cal Coach Ben Braun said. “We seemed to exploit whatever opportunities we had in the second half--Joe Shipp was scoring on the blocks, Ryan [Forehan]-Kelly was getting some open jumpers, Shantay nailed a few, Amit gave us some big baskets.”

Legans made two free throws with 6:16 to play as the Bears regained the lead, 64-63.

After a putback by Forehan-Kelly, Legans made two free throws after a technical foul was called on Smith for shoving Forehan-Kelly, and Cal led, 68-63.

“I got caught pushing the guy,” Smith said. “It was retaliation from a couple of plays before, and I got caught for the technical, and from that point our team went down.”

Smith was pulled after the technical and did not return to the game.