The Stanford Cardinal came into their Pac-10 Conference Quarterfinal matchup
looking for an upset of the top-seeded Washington Huskies, a team that had
defeated Stanford twice, but in closely played games in both instances.
The Cardinal played with the Huskies for most of the game, but just could not
get over the hump as the Huskies took advantage of the drained Cardinal in the
second half, defeating Stanford by a final score of 85-73. Stanford’s
record falls to 18-13 on the season while Washington moves to 25-7 and next
faces Arizona State in the Pac-10 Semifinals.
The game didn’t get off exactly the start Stanford wanted as Josh Owens
missed hard inside and Justin Dentmon hit a right wing three off the transition
opportunity, but the Cardinal found their rhythm, running eight in a row over a
2:07 span to take an 8-3 lead with just over 17 minutes remaining in the first
half. Some helter-skelter shooting by the Cardinal, however, allowed
Washington to get back in the game, eventually getting all the way back to a
14-12 lead after a Justin Holiday jumper off a Quincy Pondexter assist.
On the next possession, though, Stanford got the lead back after Anthony Goods drove inside and got the hoop and the harm. Fields then made a
tremendous steal off an inbounds throw-in, leading to a right wing three-pointer
by Kenny Brown, giving Stanford back a four-point lead, 18-14, with 9:05 left in
the half. Jon Brockman would get those four points back on a layup and two
free throws to tie it back up. Both teams proceeded to battle, with hard
defense and tough shots sprayed throughout the remainder of the period. A
Landry Fields tip-in of a Lawrence Hill miss knotted the game up again at 27-27 with
just under four minutes to go in the first stanza, but that would be the last
time Stanford would be tied with the Huskies as the two teams engaged in a
shooting war with Elston Turner hitting three long balls, the last giving the
Huskies a brief 38-32 lead with six ticks left. Stanford, though, was not
done as Kenny Brown was able to launch a long three-pointer from the right side
just before the buzzer to cut the lead down to three, 38-35, as the teams went
into the locker room.
As a team, Stanford shot 38% from the field, was 3-8 from the three-point
line, and made six of eight free throws. Washington made just 35% of their
shots from the field, but was 4-8 from beyond the arc and was 8-9 from the
charity stripe. Both teams were in a giving/stealing mood with the ball as
Stanford had 10 turnovers, while Washington one-upped them, making 11
miscues. The Huskies outrebounded the Cardinal 26-21, including 7-3 on the
offensive end. Both teams, though, had just six second chance
points. The Huskies had a 16-12 edge inside, but the Cardinal scored 10
points off turnovers to eight for Washington.
Individually, Stanford was led by Fields’ 13 points and eight rebounds on
6-10 shooting. Goods was next in line with seven, but he got those points
on just two of six shots. Brown had six off the bench, followed by five
from Jeremy Green. Washington was led by Brockman and Turner, who netted
nine each for the Huskies. Dentmon scored eight on 3-8 shooting, while no
one else on the team had more than four points.
As the second half
started, the Cardinal looked to build on the momentum they seemed to get after
Brown’s last second three-pointer. After a Goods three-pointer that cut
the lead to one, Fields and Goods combined for two more hoops squeezed around an
Isaiah Thomas layup to tie the game back up at 43. Unfortunately,
Washington turned on the afterburners, running off seven points in a row while
limiting the Cardinal to one shot on each possession to take their biggest lead
of the game, 50-43, with 15:55 to go in the game. A Hill layup cut the
lead to six, but a 7-2 run by the Huskies, capped off by a transition bucket by
Venoy Overton extended the lead to double-digits, 59-48, with 12:46 left in the
game. Goods scored on an old-fashioned three-point play and Owens made a
steal on the next possession, but a Fields jumper to just right of the basket
wouldn’t go in, taking away the brief momentum Stanford seemed to grab out of a
timeout. Two Brockman free throws with 9:44 pushed the lead back up to 11,
but a right side three-pointer by Green and a Goods jumper from the left cut the
lead down to five, 69-64.
Thomas, though, made a running floater in the lane to stop the Cardinal
momentum. The Cardinal had a couple of looks on their next two
possessions, but couldn’t find the hoop, leaving Washington up seven, 73-66,
with 5:41 remaining in the game. Could Stanford find one more run in them
to keep their Pac-10 Tournament Title dreams alive? Goods and Dentmon
traded points before an Overton free throw and a Brockman layup inside,
sandwiched between several long misses by the Cardinal, with under four minutes
to go gave the Huskies back a 10-point lead, 78-68, with under four minutes to
go. The Cardinal tried in vain to make a comeback, but several
three-pointers became desperate airballs and there was not enough offense or
juice left in the tank, finalizing the fate of the Cardinal on this day.
As a team, Stanford finished the contest shooting 36% from the field,
including just 33% after the break. The Cardinal also was off the mark
from beyond the arc, making just eight of 28 attempts, including 5-20 in the
second half. Stanford did finish the game 13-16 at the free throw
line. Washington shot 46% for the game, but really scorched the nets in
the second half, making 61% of their attempts, almost all from inside the
three-point line. The Huskies made 5-9 from beyond the arc and was 20-25
from the charity stripe. Washington outrebounded Stanford by a 48-39
margin, despite the Cardinal edging the Huskies on the offensive glass,
12-11. The turnovers continued in the second half as Washington committed
21 miscues while Stanford finished with 18. Stanford dished out 14
assists, while Washington tallied 10. While the battle of the paint was
close in the first half, UW blew out the Cardinal in the second stanza and
finished the afternoon with a 46-22 margin.
Individually, Stanford was led by Goods’ 26 points, 19 of those coming in the
second half, on 8-17 shooting and 9-9 from the free throw line. Fields was
next in line with 16, but he scored only three after the break. Green and
Brown combined for 24 off the bench as they made 8-13 from the field.
Johnson and Hill, however, were both off the mark, combining for a disappointing
3-20 performance from the floor, including going 0-6 from beyond the arc in the
loss. Washington’s leading scorer was Brockman, who finished the game with
20 points on 6-12 shooting, 8-9 from the line. Thomas, despite first half
foul trouble, had 14. Pondexter, who was scoreless in the first half, tallied
11, while Dentmon had 10 for the victorious Huskies.
After the game, head coach Johnny Dawkins expressed disappointment with the
outcome, but noted that he was really “proud of his guys” as they “competed the
entire night.” In regards to postseason play, Fields remarked that the
“NCAA is every team's goal, but our team would love to keep playing.”
Goods summed up the afternoon best as he said with a soft voice that it was
“frustrating to fall short,” but that the loss “came down to shot selection” and
that the team “resorted to the three too early” in a game which was still within
single digits late in the second half. The Cardinal now wait to see if
they do get to keep playing this season, hoping for word from either the NIT,
CBI, or CollegeInsider.com Tournament that their season isn’t quite over
yet. Stay tuned to the Bootleg for details as they emerge in the coming
days…
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