Admittedly, Corvallis is not the most
inspiring place to play a basketball game. Coming to town to play
the Beavers is about as exciting as watching ice melt on a hot
summer day. Gill Coliseum does not instill fear in visiting
teams, nor does it provide the Beavers with any psychological
edge over their opponents. In fact, as a visiting team it is
incredibly difficult to motivate yourself to play a basketball
game at Gill. Which, interestingly, might be a strange sort of
home court advantage for Oregon State after all.
For the second year in a row Stanford played
sloppy basketball for the first thirty minutes before pulling
away in the final ten minutes for the 67-50 victory. The Cardinal
buried the Beavers with a scoring run that began late in the
second half when Beavers 6’9” forward Brian Jackson
left the game after picking up his fourth foul. Jackson’s
absence was decimating to the Beavs both offensively and
defensively, as he is the only legitimate scoring threat on the
squad and its tallest, most capable defender.
Freshman Josh Childress led the Cardinal in
scoring with 19 points, and was really the only offensive threat
Stanford showed for the majority of the game. Shooting 8-15 from
the field, Childress gave the Beavs fits the entire night,
scoring both inside and outside. Childress is rapidly developing
into the consistent third scoring option Stanford desperately
needs, which should free up Jacobsen for a few more open looks.
Childress also added 9 rebounds.
Casey Jacobsen’s offensive struggles
continued, as he wasn’t able to get anything going until
late in the game, and finished only 5 of 12 shooting from the
floor. Jacobsen sat out most of the first half after drawing his
third foul of the game early. However, when the Cardinal needed
him most Jacobsen stepped up in the second half to hit a big
three and slam home two fast break dunks with about eight minutes
to play that allowed Stanford to pull away for the victory.
Jacobsen finished with 15 points.
Curtis Borchardt scored a quiet 17 points
and dominated the shorter Beavers on the boards. Borchardt pulled
down 18 rebounds, and was a huge contributor to Stanford’s
40-24 rebounding edge in the game. The advantage was 13-2 on the
offensive boards, which allowed Borchardt and the rest of the
Card to get second and third opportunities on many of their trips
down the floor.
Stanford led by three at the half, and
briefly relinquished the lead with about 12 minutes to play in
the game. Phillip Ricci led the Beavers in scoring with 14
points, but shot only 4-11 from the field. Ricci was constantly
overmatched by Borchardt, who had a 5-inch height advantage on
the junior.
Next up for Stanford are the Ducks in
Eugene. They will face a better team, tougher crowd, and more
hostile venue than they faced in Corvallis. Stanford needs to
show up ready to play in the first half, because a lackluster
performance like they gave last night will put them down big by
half time against U of O. If Jacobsen can build on his strong
finish last night, and Childress and Borchardt continue to
improve and produce, Stanford will hold the Ducks in check, and
hand them their second conference loss.