Stanford’s Victory Not a Pretty One

Seventh-ranked Stanford has a perfect 12-0 record, but its play was far from that in a 68-48 victory over Oregon State at Corvallis, Ore., on Saturday in the Pacific 10 Conference opener for both teams.

Stanford shot 38% and made only two of 17 three-point attempts in maintaining the second-best start in school history to the 14-0 by the Hank Luisetti-led 1936-37 team.

The Cardinal also avenged an 86-77 loss to the Beavers last season in Corvallis.

“A 20-point win in this conference on the road is an awfully good start,” Cardinal coach Mike Montgomery said.

“I was apprehensive about this game, frankly. But we became the aggressor early on and got after it defensively.”

Oregon State (9-3) missed its first 11 shots, with Jerome Vaden’s three-point basket at 12:46 accounting for its first field goal. The Beavers made only three of 31 shots in falling behind, 30-14, at halftime and finished shooting 10 of 55 (18%).

“Defense is fun,” Stanford guard Arthur Lee said. “Going out and shutting people down, it’s a challenge. Defense is a huge part of this game, and when we’re willing to play it, good things happen for us.”

Lee led the Cardinal with 16 points, overcoming two of 13 shooting by making 12 of 13 free throws. Peter Sauer had 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Tim Young had 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

Stanford was without starting forward Mark Madsen, who will be sidelined at least a month because of a stress fracture in his right foot.

Oregon 66, California 59--Terik Brown and Henry Madden combined to make six of 10 three-point shots at Eugene, Ore., as the Ducks (6-4) were in control against the Golden Bears (4-5) in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.

Brown was four of seven on his three-point attempts and had 18 points while Madden was two of three en route to 13 points.

Oregon made 10 of 21 three-point shots and outrebounded California, 30-28, despite the absence of center Mike Carson, who will be sidelined the rest of the season after suffering a tendon injury to his left foot in practice this week.

California scored the game’s first points, but never had the lead again.

The Golden Bears fell behind as many as 16 points in the first half, and could get no closer than seven points in the second half.

“I don’t know if we could have played any better,” said first-year Oregon Coach Ernie Kent.

“We kept our turnovers down and we did a good job capitalizing on the second-chance opportunities.”

California committed 22 turnovers, while Oregon had 17.

“In 27 possessions, we turned the ball over 14 times [in falling behind 35-23 at halftime.] I was amazed that we were still in the game at all,” California Coach Ben Braun said.

“Oregon didn’t press and we shot ourselves in the foot with all our turnovers. When we got down, we were in too much of a hurry to catch up.”

Geno Carlisle, a transfer from Northwestern, led the Golden Bears with 28 points, making five of 10 three-point shots.