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Defense, Low leads Washington State over Stanford

Feb 9, 2007 - 5:53 AM PULLMAN, Washington (Ticker) -- Washington State relied on an old staple to end a long skid and reach a long-awaited milestone.

The 14th-ranked Cougars held Stanford without a field goal for the first 10 1/2 minutes of the second half to blow open a tight contest and pull away for a 58-45 victory in a Pac-10 Conference game.

Derrick Low and Kyle Weaver scored 12 points apiece and Ivory Clark added 11 and a career-high 10 rebounds for Washington State (20-4, 9-3 Pac-10), which snapped a 10-game home losing streak over upstart Stanford and recorded its first 20-win campaign since the 1993-94 campaign.

"To get 20 wins this season is noteworthy," Cougars coach Tony Bennett said. "We are in a good spot in the Pac-10."

That spot is second place, one game behind UCLA.

The Cougars' recipe for success starts on the defensive end, where they rank among the nation's leaders, yielding just 58.7 points per game. That intensity was on display Thursday night as they held the Cardinal (15-7, 7-4) to 28 percent (15-of-53) shooting - its second best defensive effort of the season.

"Their defense was good. Our offense was bad," Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "For the most part we were in the game. We lost our composure when some shots didn't fall.

"They're a good basketball team. They're deserving of their ranking and probably should be ranked higher."

Washington also handled the ball expertly, committing just eight turnovers - two under its season average - while forcing 15. Stanford only hung around on the strength of its 38-35 rebounding edge, including 16 on the offensive glass.

"I was so proud of our defense. It was a very physical game," Bennett said. "Stanford got after it on the offensive glass and our guys dug in and held their ground.

"Stanford is a lot like us in the way they approach the game. We prepared our kids for a physical defensive game."

After Landry Fields hit a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the first half to bring Stanford within 22-20 at the half, Washington State opened the second half on a 13-2 run for a 35-22 lead with 9 1/2 minutes left.

Anthony Goods' 3-pointer stopped the run but an 8-2 spurt shortly thereafter, capped by 3-pointers by Daven Harmeling and Low, pushed the lead to 44-29 with 5 1/2 minutes left.

Goods, who scored 30 points in Stanford's 71-68 overtime victory over Washington State on January 13, including a 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left in the extra session, was held to 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting. The sophomore shooting guard was 11-of-16 in the first game as Stanford shot 45 percent (26-of-58).

Freshman Brook Lopez had 13 points and Fred Washington added 10 rebounds for the Cardinal, who had won seven of their last nine.