College basketball
Stanford: 25 in row
By Associated Press
Published February 29, 2004
STANFORD, Calif. - Somehow, Josh Childress ended up in the arms of his fellow students in the front row of their rowdy rooting section.
The Stanford star made sure the top-ranked Cardinal ushered out an era at Maples Pavilion in perfect fashion. He had 29 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and three blocks, and Stanford won its school-record 25th straight, 76-55 over Oregon on Saturday.
Childress was 10-for-16 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range in what some believe might have been his final home game before declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft.
And he was the first to lead a charge into the student section to celebrate the team's fourth Pac-10 title in six seasons.
Hawks hang on
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. - No. 2 Saint Joseph's still is undefeated after passing its toughest test in months.
The Hawks won their 26th consecutive Saturday, defeating Rhode Island 57-55 on a go-ahead basket by Delonte West in the final minute. Jameer Nelson scored 21 and West 19 for Saint Joe's, which has only a home game against lowly St. Bonaventure and the Atlantic 10 tournament standing in the way of a perfect regular season.
No team has entered the NCAA Tournament unbeaten since UNLV in 1991.
It was never more than a three-point game for the final 10 minutes. A 3-pointer by West made it 56-55 with 57 seconds left and he added a free throw with 19 seconds to play.
Rhode Island had two shots - by Dawan Robinson and Steve Mello - for the win but the buzzer sounded as they scrambled for a loose ball.
The Hawks haven't had a game this close since Dec. 20, when Nelson hit the winner against California with five seconds left. Saint Joe's has won its past six and 12-of-14 by at least 10.
NO. 4 GONZAGA 80, SANTA CLARA 64: Blake Stepp scored 14 for the host Bulldogs, who won their 18th in a row. Stepp added eight assists as Gonzaga completed its first undefeated season in the West Coast Conference.
NO. 6 OKLA. ST. 72, BAYLOR 65: Tony Allen scored 20 of his 22 in the second, capped by a 60-footer at the buzzer, for the visiting Cowboys. Oklahoma State, coming off a double-overtime loss at Missouri, was ahead 12 with 4:11 left and seemed ready to cruise into a Monday showdown with No. 10 Texas. But Baylor went on a 12-2 run to get within 67-65 with a minute left.
NO. 7 MISS. ST. 72, VANDERBILT 69: Lawrence Roberts had 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulldogs, who improved to 11-0 on the road and stayed a game ahead of Kentucky, which plays at LSU today, in the race for the SEC's regular-season title. Vanderbilt had won three straight.
No. 8 UCONN 75, VILLANOVA 74 (OT):: Junior Emeka Okafor, the nation's leading shot-blocker, blocked one at the end of regulation and again at the end of overtime for the visiting Huskies. Josh Boone put in a rebound of a miss by Ben Gordon with 5.5 seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies the 75-74 lead. Gordon scored 21 and Okafor 17 for the Huskies, who have won four consecutive. UConn's Rashad Anderson tied it at 66 on a 3-pointer with seven seconds left in regulation. NO. 10 TEXAS 74, NO. 25 TEXAS TECH 71: Brandon Mouton scored 17 and P.J. Tucker had 15 and 10 rebounds for the host Longhorns. Mouton and Tucker combined to make four free throws over the final 28 seconds to seal it. The Red Raiders have lost seven of 10. Andre Emmett scored 21 for Tech, but missed two 3-pointers in the final seconds that would have forced overtime.
NO. 15 CINCINNATI 75, CHARLOTTE 67: Jason Maxiell scored 18 and Field Williams 15 for the visiting Bearcats. Kareem Johnson added 14 for Cincinnati, which moved into a first-place tie in Conference USA with No. 19 Memphis. The win gave Bearcats coach Bob Huggins his 13th 20-win season in 15 at the school. Curtin Withers led Charlotte with 16 points and 12 rebounds - his 14th double double.
NO. 16 S. ILLINOIS 72, BRADLEY 71: Sylvester Willis hit a layup with 0.5 seconds left for the host Salukis, who blew a 22-point lead. Southern Illinois is one win from becoming the third team in Missouri Valley Conference history to finish undefeated in league play.
NO. 17 ARIZONA 72, WASH. ST. 60: Salim Stoudamire returned from a one-game suspension to score 21, 16 in the second, for the host Wildcats. Arizona won for the 38th consecutive time in the series. Stoudamire, suspended by coach Lute Olson for "failure to meet team responsibilities," was 8-for-16 from the field, 3-for-7 from 3-point range, and held Washington State's Marcus Moore to five points on 2-for-11 shooting.
No. 18 GA. TECH 79, CLEMSON 60: B.J. Elder scored 16 of his 17 in the second for the visiting Yellow Jackets, who reached 20 victories for the first time in eight seasons. Elder, Tech's leading scorer, was nearly invisible early on, shooting 0-of-4 from the field in a crazy first half that was delayed about 20 minutes due to a power outage. After the break, though, Elder hit a straightaway jumper, then zipped a pass to Marvin Lewis for an easy basket that gave Georgia Tech a 31-19 lead.
NO. 21 LOUISVILLE 66, NO. 19 MEMPHIS 60: Francisco Garcia scored 18 for the host Cardinals, who snapped a four-game losing streak. Otis George had 11 points and eight rebounds for Louisville, which won for just the second time in eight. Sean Banks scored 26 and Antonio Burks 22 for the Tigers, who had an 11-game winning streak snapped.
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 66, NORTHWESTERN 56: Guard Dee Brown scored 20, but it was inside scoring that broke open a close game for the host Illini. Forward Roger Powell and center Nick Smith combined for 17 second-half points as Illinois won its eighth consecutive.
[Last modified February 29, 2004, 01:15:11]
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