Brook Lopez ignites Stanford's late run to pull away from Arizona

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Stanford kept sending one big guy after another to the boards, grabbing everything that missed.

Brook Lopez had 20 points and 15 rebounds, including 10 in a second-half spurt that helped No. 11 Stanford pull away to a 75-64 victory over Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday night.

"I just shot," he said. "I know I have two of our other big guys crashing the boards if I miss, and that is a real boost of confidence."

The second-seeded Cardinal (25-6) advanced to Friday's semifinals against No. 3 seed Washington State, which beat Oregon 75-70. The Cardinal swept the Cougars (24-7) during the regular season.

Jerryd Bayless led seventh-seeded Arizona (19-14) with 18 points. Jordan Hill added 16, and Chase Budinger had 13.

Robin Lopez, the 7-foot twin brother of Brook, added 14 points. Lawrence Hill, Mitch Johnson and Fred Washington had 11 points each.

"It's been a while since we got back to rebounding the ball like that," said Stanford's Trent Johnson, Pac-10 coach of the year. "We did a good job setting the tone, setting the tempo, and getting the ball to the right spots."

Mostly that was in the hands of Brook Lopez, who had 11 defensive rebounds. Johnson added 10 rebounds, helping Stanford dominate the boards, 50-27, and end its two-game losing skid.

"We definitely wanted to get some winning ways back before the NCAA tournament," Johnson said. "I don't think we have any magic tricks or secret weapons. Our game plan is to pound the boards."

And with no one under 6-foot on the team, it's easily done. The Cardinal owned a 21-8 edge on the offensive glass.

"They got a lot of second-chance shots and they shot the ball 15 more times than we did," Arizona's Jawann McClellan said. "That's where the game was won."

The Wildcats' streak of 23 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, longest in the nation, could be in jeopardy. They went 8-10 in the league's regular season, their worst record since 1983-84, the last time Arizona didn't make the NCAAs.

But the Wildcats played a rugged schedule, with half their losses coming against teams ranked in the top 10, including Kansas, Memphis and UCLA.

"Hopefully we get in," Bayless said. "We played against the best teams in America."

Interim Arizona coach Kevin O'Neill said he'd be surprised if the Wildcats are left out when the 65-team field is announced Sunday.

"We deserve to be there," he said.

Stanford swept Arizona during the regular season by a combined five points, and the third meeting was just as close until the final 11 1/2 minutes.

That's when Lawrence Hill launched the game-breaking 20-5 run on a jumper that snapped a 49-all tie. Brook Lopez scored 10 points to put the Cardinal ahead for good, 69-54, with 4:55 remaining.

The Wildcats, who had been matching the Cardinal basket-for-basket until then, went cold and committed four of their nine turnovers in the spurt.

Arizona cut its deficit to 73-64 on back-to-back 3-pointers by McClellan and Nic Wise with 2:23 remaining. After a timeout, Robin Lopez blocked Bayless, and O'Neill angrily smacked his left hand on the scorer's table. Washington stole the ball, allowing the Cardinal to control the closing seconds.

The start of the second half duplicated the first 20 minutes, with the teams tied six times and Stanford never ahead by more than three points until the Cardinal's decisive run.

"We just stuck with our game plan, which is to pound it down low, hit the boards and get the stop," Johnson said. "We did a good job at making it tough."

Jordan Hill scored Arizona's first six points of the game while the Cardinal opened 0-for-6. The teams were tied for a stretch before Brook Lopez's basket gave Stanford its first lead, 21-19.

From there, the Wildcats outscored the Cardinal 16-14 -- taking a four-point lead three times -- but the teams went into halftime tied at 35 after Johnson stole the ball and fed Lawrence Hill for the score.