Irvine Surprises No. 13 Stanford

Ross Schraeder scored 19 points and UC Irvine defeated host and No. 13-ranked Stanford, 79-63, Saturday to give Coach Pat Douglass his 500th victory.

Shamar Armstrong scored six consecutive points in the last 3 minutes 19 seconds and the Anteaters (2-1) exploited a significant height advantage to pound the ball inside at every opportunity against the Cardinal (0-1), which played without injured starting forward Matt Haryasz.

“It’s sure nice to win No. 500 in a game like this against Stanford, a team and program I respect so much,” Douglass said. “We shot well in our last game, and we stayed in sync today.”

Darren Fells had 18 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two blocks for Irvine, which defeated Stanford for the first time in six meetings. The Cardinal is among the favorites to win the Pacific 10 Conference title.

Stanford cut the lead to 61-56 on Dan Grunfeld’s basket with 3:54 left, then Armstrong made a three-point basket with the shot clock winding down. On the next possession, Armstrong converted a three-point play.

“That three-pointer seemed to be one of the keys,” said Douglass, in his ninth season at Irvine and 25th overall. “You could see the wind go out of their sails on that basket.”

Schraeder made his six shots in the first half, including three three-pointers, and the Anteaters shot 69.2% (18 of 26) on the way to a 43-35 halftime lead.

“From start to finish, they were the aggressor and they basically gave us an old-fashioned tail-whipping,” said Trent Johnson, the second-year Cardinal coach.

Grunfeld finished with 29 points. Cardinal point guard Chris Hernandez missed several easy shots and finished with 13 points and five assists.

Stanford’s only lead came four seconds into the game on a layup by Grunfeld.

“When a team gets up on you, it’s a long game,” he said.

Washington State 86, UC Riverside 55 -- Sophomore Josh Akognon scored a career-high 22 points in his first collegiate start to lead the Cougars at Pullman, Wash., in the opener for both teams.

The Highlanders missed 21 of 23 shots from the field and finished the first half shooting six for 38, including 0 for 16 from three-point range. Riverside finished shooting 25% (19 for 76) from the field, including six for 33 from three-point territory.

Houston Power led the Highlanders with 11 points, and Larry Cunningham and Sean Cunningham each had 10.

WOMEN

Ambrosia Anderson scored 25 points, Dani Kubik had 22 and Brigham Young rallied to defeat host Cal State Northridge, 76-59, in the season opener for both teams. Jazelle Burries and Krisztina Fuleki each had 11 points for Northridge, which squandered a 40-26 first-half lead.