Oregon State
Stanford
Beavers Fall To No.2 Stanford, 82-63
February 10, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 10, 2001
By LANDON HALL
AP Sports Writer
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Battered but still standing, second-ranked Stanford survived a grueling trip through Oregon, even if it failed to make the kind of emphatic statement it was looking for.
Jason Collins scored 21 points as the Cardinal struggled for the second straight game but pulled away to beat Oregon State 82-63 on Saturday night.
"Everybody seems to be giving us their best shot," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "Oregon State really made every shot. It frustrated us a little bit."
Stanford (22-1, 10-1 Pac-10) led 58-54 with 9:48 left, but went on a 19-4 run to turn back the overmatched Beavers (8-15, 2-9).
Jimmie Haywood scored a career-high 20 points to lead Oregon State, which had just seven players because of injuries and suspensions. The Beavers still shot 52 percent, the highest any team has shot against Stanford this season.
The Cardinal hit four straight 3-pointers - one by Michael McDonald, two by Teyo Johnson and the last by Casey Jacobsen - during the run. A breakaway slam by Collins ended the spurt and gave Stanford a 77-58 lead with 3:33 remaining.
"We knew that if we just kept going at them, we should be able to wear them down," Collins said. "That didn't happen until the very end of the game."
Jacobsen and Mendez each added 18 points for Stanford, which was coming off a narrow 69-62 win at Oregon on Thursday night, in which the Cardinal trailed by seven with just over six minutes left.
Stanford had won its first six conference games by an average of 21.8 points, but the team has looked vulnerable in the last five. The Cardinal was pushed hard by Washington State and Southern Cal, then UCLA ruined Stanford's 20-0 record with a win at Maples Pavilion last week.
Mendez said being the top team in the league has its perils.
"We're going to get teams' best shot every single night, one through 10 in the conference," he said. "Lately we've been putting teams away at the seven-minute mark in the second half, and we can't do that if we want to be leaders of the conference."
The Cardinal didn't exactly play terribly: It shot 60 percent and outrebounded the Beavers 30-17. It also had a big edge at the free-throw line for the second straight game.
After making just 21 of 37 against Oregon, Stanford was 14-of-20. Oregon State got to the line just five times, making three free throws. Oregon was just 3-of-7.
Oregon State coach Ritchie McKay said Stanford had too much depth.
"You really don't know what to take away," he said.
Brian Jackson and Jason Heide, who combined to play all but two minutes against Cal, each had 13 points for the Beavers. Adam Masten had seven assists playing out of position at point guard for Deaundra Tanner, who served the second of a two-game suspension for violating unspecified team rules.
Haywood had just five points at halftime, but scored 10 of the Beavers' first 16 of the second half. His 3-pointer brought Oregon State within 51-50 with 12 1/2 minutes to go, but the Beavers didn't get that close again.
Both teams picked their moments in the first half, turning the ball over just five times and passing the ball until a man came open. Stanford shot 59 percent in the first 20 minutes. But the Beavers, who pushed Cal to overtime before losing 72-69 loss Thursday night, were right there at 58 percent.
Stanford won by 24 points when the teams first met on Jan. 8, but the Cardinal trailed 8-1 after the first eight minutes. This time scoring wasn't a problem for the Cardinal, but defense was.
Trailing 13-5, Oregon State made four 3-pointers in the next 4 1/2 minutes and got within 23-22. The Cardinal then ran off 10 straight points before Oregon State answered with a 12-4 run.
Mendez, who had 11 points in the half, made two free throws to give Stanford a 39-34 halftime lead.
