Washington beats Stanford 79-64, will face Cal for Pac-10 title

Washington has not yet secured a berth in the NCAA tournament.

But the Huskies improved their chances considerably Friday night by defeating Stanford, 79-64, in a semifinal of the Pacific Life Pac-10 tournament at Staples Center.

Washington will play top-seeded Cal Saturday in the title game, the winner gaining an automatic berth in an NCAA regional.

Regardless of the outcome, Washington positioned itself for a possible at-large berth by dispatching the Cardinal and improving its record to 23-9.

Washington limited Stanford to 19 first-half points, led by nine points at the break and increased the margin to 20 points with about seven minutes left.

Washington forward Quincy Pondexter, who scored only nine points in the Huskies’ quarterfinal victory over Oregon State, scored eight in the first half against Stanford. Forward Justin Holliday added seven points and forward Matt Bryan-Amaning took seven rebounds for the Huskies, who made only eight of 28 shots (29%).

Pondexter finished with 19 points. Guard Isaiah Thomas added 17 for Washington. Landry Fields totaled 20 points and 14 rebounds for Stanford (14-18).

Washington went into the semifinal having routed the Cardinal twice. The Huskies blew out Stanford, 94-61, in Seattle in January and won, 78-61, the next month at Palo Alto for their first road victory.

The winner of the Washington-Stanford game meets a Cal team that beat Oregon and UCLA on its way to the championship game.

The Golden Bears led from start to finish against Oregon and overcame a 10-point first-half deficit to beat UCLA.

Cal shot 70% in the second half of its 85-72 victory Friday.

And Cal seemed determined to follow its first outright conference title in 50 years with a Pac-10 tournament title.

“As long as we maintain our defensive intensity,” Cal forward Theo Robertson said. “I think we’ll be all right.”

gary.klein@latimes.com

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