Arizona tops Stanford
LOS ANGELES – Even without their leading scorer, the Arizona Wildcats had enough to get by mistake-prone Stanford.
The Wildcats’ defense picked up the slack.
Ivan Radenovic had 21 points and seven rebounds, Mustafa Shakur added 18 points, seven rebounds and six assists, and the Wildcats held off the Cardinal 73-68 Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.
Arizona won without leading-scorer Hassan Adams, suspended for the Pac-10 tournament by Olson after being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving last weekend.
Arizona, shooting for its 22nd straight NCAA tournament appearance, moved within one victory of its 19th consecutive 20-win season. The Wildcats can achieve that milestone tonight against No. 13 UCLA, which advanced to the semifinals by beating Oregon State.
Meanwhile, Stanford’s school-record 11-year streak of NCAA tournament appearances almost surely will end.
Chris Rodgers added 12 points and five steals and Marcus Williams had 11 points despite a 3-for-16 shooting performance for the Wildcats, who forced Stanford (15-13) to commit a season-high 23 turnovers.
“There’s no question that the thing that did it for us was our defense,” said Lute Olson, in his 23rd season as coach of the Wildcats. “That’s been our trademark all year long. Our guys believe that defense is a way to win games.
“It’s the best defensive team we’ve had, and I think that pressure on the ball forced a lot of those turnovers. We ended up with 16 more possessions as a result of the turnover margin.”
Arizona committed only seven turnovers, and made 24 of 30 free throws to 10 of 11 for Stanford. The fifth-seeded Cardinal shot 50 percent to the Wildcats’ 39 percent, and won the rebounding battle 36-27. But their turnovers did them in.(13) UCLA 79, Oregon State 47: Ryan Hollins scored a season-high 17 points and added eight rebounds as the Bruins (25-6) routed the Beavers (13-18).
Hollins also had eight rebounds, helping the Bruins to a 39-25 advantage on the boards. Arron Afflalo added 16 points, Michael Roll nine and Jordan Farmar seven. OSU’s Marcel Jones scored 19.
UCLA’s margin of victory set a tournament record, bettering by one the mark Arizona set against Oregon State last year.
California 82, Southern California 67: Leon Powe had 22 points and a career-high 20 rebounds to help the Golden Bears (19-9) eliminate the Trojans (17-13).
Third-seeded Cal will meet either No. 12 Washington or Oregon today in its first semifinal appearance since 2003.
For the first time since 1990, the sixth-seeded Trojans lost all three of their meetings with Cal. Gabe Pruitt scored 22 points to lead the Trojans, who lost seven of their last nine games.