Cardinal Has His Number

While Dijon Thompson’s final numbers -- 19 points, 11 rebounds -- were higher than his season averages, UCLA’s senior leader again had a disappointing effort against Stanford.

Thompson scored six points in a 75-64 loss to the Cardinal last month, and Sunday at Maples Pavilion the 6-foot-7 forward had four points and two rebounds in the first half while Stanford was building a 10-point lead, on its way to a 78-65 victory.

Chris Hernandez, the Stanford point guard who had a career-high 37 points, credited the defense of junior forward Matt Haryasz, who is 6 feet 11 and seems to be all arms.

“Matt matches up well against Thompson,” Hernandez said. “He’s a lot taller and he can stay with Thompson. Matt makes him shoot over his arms and he doesn’t let Thompson pump-fake. If you don’t let him pump-fake, you can kind of stop him.”

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Fred Washington, a sophomore from Torrance Bishop Montgomery High, moved into the Stanford starting lineup last week when leading scorer Dan Grunfeld suffered a season-ending knee injury. After scoring a career-high 22 points Thursday against USC, Washington had 12 points, eight rebounds and seven steals against UCLA.

Washington was particularly proud of his steals. “We’re supposed to be a tough team,” he said, “and tough teams dive on the floor and get loose balls.”

Haryasz said Washington helps give the Cardinal a different look. “Maybe we run a little bit more with Fred,” Haryasz said, “and Chris is good at recognizing that.”

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UCLA senior Josiah Johnson, who had played only 18 minutes all season, came into the game with 8:19 left in the first half. He committed two fouls within a minute and twice let a Stanford player steal a rebound on a Cardinal missed free throw. Freshman backup center Lorenzo Mata has been hampered by a bruised sternum and Coach Ben Howland gave a terse answer about why he went to Johnson instead of forward Matt McKinney. “Matt told us he was feeling ill in practice [Saturday] and I didn’t have the confidence to go to him,” Howland said. McKinney has lacked stamina much of the season because of medication he takes for a stomach condition.

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UP NEXT

Thursday vs. USC, 7:30 p.m., FSNW2 -- UCLA erased an 18-point halftime deficit to beat the Trojans, 72-69, Jan. 29 at the Sports Arena. Last-place USC, trying to earn a spot in the eight-team Pac-10 tournament, is a half-game behind ninth-place Oregon and 1 1/2 games behind seventh-place California and Washington State.