Stanford Holds On to Win

A bedtime start and a sleep-inducing offense were not enough to put down Stanford’s NCAA tournament hopes.

With its season potentially on the line Thursday night at Staples Center, the third-seeded Cardinal shook off a slow start and rallied to defeat sixth-seeded Washington State, 60-58, in the late Pacific 10 Conference tournament quarterfinal.

Stanford guard Chris Hernandez found center Rob Little underneath for the go-ahead basket with 17 seconds left, and Washington State forward Chris Schlatter’s jump shot near the three-point line clanged off the side of the rim at the buzzer.

Stanford, the defending tournament champion, advanced to play second-seeded Washington in a semifinal at 8:45 tonight.

The Cougars failed in their bid to complete their first-ever three-game season sweep of Stanford (18-11), which has fallen on comparatively hard times only one year removed from a 30-victory season.

“We weren’t really thinking about the NCAAs,” said Hernandez, who finished with 18 points. “We still might not get in. We’re most thankful that we beat them and didn’t lose three in a row to them and that we lived to play another day.”

Stanford trailed by nine points early in the second half and did not take its first lead until Hernandez made a three-pointer that put the Cardinal ahead, 41-38, with 12:22 to play.

Stanford appeared to take control with a 19-2 run that culminated in a Matt Haryasz dunk for a 46-38 lead. But Washington State (12-16) steadily chipped away at its deficit before tying the score, 54-54, on a three-pointer by Thomas Kelati with 4:26 left.

Kelati finished with a game-high 20 points on seven-for-11 shooting.

The Cougars took a 57-56 lead with 1:08 to go on a Schlatter three-point basket before Hernandez drove the lane and was credited with a basket on a goaltending call against Washington State forward Jeff Varem.

Varem made one of two free throws to tie the score at 58-58 before Little made the winner on only his second basket of the game.

Stanford’s NCAA tournament resume is solid but hardly bulletproof. The Cardinal finished third in the Pac 10, splitting its season series with Arizona and Washington and sweeping UCLA.

But Stanford hasn’t been the same team since leading scorer Dan Grunfeld suffered a season-ending knee injury Feb. 12, necessitating the use of a seven-man rotation.

The Cardinal also was only 6-4 in nonconference play and dropped both of its regular-season games against Washington State for the first time in 12 years, losing, 60-51, in Spokane on Dec. 31, and 59-48 in Palo Alto on March 3.