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College basketball

Cardinal upsets No. 1 Wildcats

TUCSON, Ariz. -- McKale Center is an awful place for visiting teams, except for Stanford.

Matt Lottich scored 23, including a crucial 3-pointer with 58 seconds to play, to lift Stanford to an 82-77 upset of No. 1 Arizona on Thursday night.

Stanford beat a No. 1 team for the third time in history and the first time on the road. But wins at McKale Center are nothing new for coach Mike Montgomery's squad.

The Cardinal won at Arizona for the third year in a row.

"It was a great win considering we didn't even play our best," Montgomery said.

When it was over, there was no wild celebration. Stanford players patted each other on the back, shook hands and walked away.

"We've beat ranked teams before. They just happened to be No. 1," Stanford's Nick Robinson said. "The fact that we'd beaten them here the two times previous, we had a lot of confidence."

Despite the loss, Arizona remained tied with California for first in the Pac-10.

Julius Barnes, who had 14 points and 10 assists but shot just 4-for-21, sank both free throws in a one-and-one situation with 8.5 seconds to play to seal it.

Lottich made 5 of 8 3-pointers.

"Julius helped me get some great shots," Lottich said. "They were sucking down on him, so he was kicking the ball out to me. I got some great looks."

Jason Gardner scored 22 and Luke Walton a season-high 20 for the Wildcats, who rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to take a three-point lead.

"We can't make the number of mistakes we made with the ball and we can't miss 12 of 26 free throws," coach Lute Olson said.

Earlier in the day, Arizona athletic director Jim Livengood issued a statement regarding allegations that some members of the Wildcats team stole candy and change from a vending machine at a motel in Lawrence, Kan., last weekend. The only player identified by a witness was Walton, and he denied having anything to do with the theft, as did the other Arizona players.

An assistant repaid the motel $80 and no charges were filed.

"We have investigated the situation and have taken action in accordance with NCAA and university policy, rules and regulations," Livengood said.

He did not say what the action was and said there would be no further comment on the issue.

NO. 5 DUKE 80, BUTLER 60: Dahntay Jones scored 25 and Shavlik Randolph added a season-high 24 as the Blue Devils won their 23rd straight at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Blue Devils (14-2) built on their 12-point halftime lead by making eight of their first nine shots to start the second half to cruise shooting 53 percent.

Butler (16-3), playing Duke to improve its strength of schedule come NCAA Tournament selection time, couldn't stop the driving ability of Jones or the inside presence of Randolph, who was 11-of-13 from the field.

Randolph, who also had 10 rebounds and four blocks, had his best game since scoring 23 in his collegiate debut against Army to open the season.

"He wasn't playing off of instincts early in the season. He was just out there, like he was a zombie," point guard Chris Duhon said of Randolph, who went to Duke after an intense recruiting battle with North Carolina and N.C. State. "Now, we've settled him down and he's matured and you're seeing his improvement."

NO. 10 MARYLAND 75, N.C. ST. 60: Steve Blake scored 20 and Drew Nicholas hit two straight 3-pointers during a 14-0 second-half run that carried the host Terrapins.

Nicholas got his 13 points after halftime as the defending NCAA champions solidified their hold on first in the ACC with their 14th straight home win over the Wolfpack.

Maryland trailed at halftime and was clinging to 43-41 lead before finally busting loose. Tahj Holden started the 14-point run with two free throws, and Nicholas followed with successive shots from long range.

Nik Caner-Medley then made a layup, and four free throws made it 57-41 with 10 minutes left.

ARIZ. ST. 75, NO. 20 CAL 70: Curtis Millage had seven of his 21 points on free throws in the final 3:22 and the host Sun Devils ended the Golden Bears' best conference start in 46 years.

"You go out there and do those little small things that help your team win," Millage said.

Ike Diogu, a freshman who has scored in double digits each game, had 19 points and 13 rebounds for his second double double.

Arizona State hadn't played since an eight-point loss at Arizona on Jan. 22.

Joe Shipp had 27 points and eight rebounds for Cal (14-3, 7-1), which hadn't begun a league schedule as well since a 10-0 start in Pacific Coast Conference play in 1957.

SEC

ARKANSAS: The school has until the end of February to respond to a lawsuit filed by former coach Nolan Richardson. The school originally had today as a deadline to answer the suit which was filed Dec. 20.

But Richardson's lawyers filed an amended complaint Wednesday to add the university's Board of Trustees and the Razorback Foundation as defendants.

The new deadline is Feb. 28. The suit claims Richardson was discriminated against because he is an African-American and that his free-speech rights were violated. The suit also asks that he be reinstated as coach.

State

W. KENTUCKY 63, FIU 43: Mike Wells scored 14 and Patrick Sparks added 12 for the host Hilltoppers. Carlos Morban scored 11 to lead the Golden Panthers.

SAMFORD 73, FAU 53: Cornell Felton had 16 points and six assists for the visiting Bulldogs. Samford took control of the game early and cruised over the struggling Owls, who lost 12 of their last 13.

JACKSONVILLE 57, JACKSONVILLE ST. 56: Kevin Sheppard scored 19, including the winning 12-footer with 19.6 seconds left for the host Dolphins.

BELMONT 60, UCF 58: Steve Drabyn scored 18, including 15 from 3-point range, for the Bruins. Central Florida shot just 27 percent in the second half.

Nation

SEARCY, Ark. -- Harding's Aaron Farley missed the back end of a two-shot technical to end his free-throw streak at 88 -- 10 short of an NCAA record.

Farley made his first eight free throws against Arkansas Tech before missing the second shot awarded the Bisons after Arkansas Tech's Jason Williams committed a technical foul. Until he missed, Farley had the nation's longest free-throw streak.

The NCAA record is 97, set by Northern Kentucky's Paul Cluxton during the 1996-97 season.

OREGON ST. 83, SOUTHERN CAL 74: Brian Jackson scored 15 of his 26 points in the second half, and Chris Stephens added a career-high 17 for the visiting Beavers.

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