Stanford swats away Washington with ease

Published 11:22 pm Thursday, January 31, 2008

SEATTLE — The first two shots of the night went in for Washington. Very little else went right, however, on Thursday night.

Some of the Huskies’ shots clanged off iron, some were air balls, and several others were swatted away by Stanford’s 7-foot Lopez twins, and the end result was a 65-51 victory for the 14th-ranked Cardinal at Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

The loss was Washington’s worst on its home floor since an 86-62 loss to Gonzaga on Dec. 3, 2003.

“That was a really dull effort on our part,” said Quincy Pondexter, who led the Huskies with 15 points. “We were just really lacking energy. There was no electricity from our team. I felt sorry for the fans that had to watch that because it wasn’t exciting basketball. This is a great conference. And really when you lack energy like we did tonight, that’s going to happen.”

Stanford, which had lost five in a row at Hec Ed coming into the game, won in large part thanks to a huge effort from sophomore forward Brook Lopez, who struggled in his first appearance in Seattle. After finishing with just six points and four rebounds here as a freshman, Lopez came up huge the second time around, finishing with a career-high 31 points and 13 rebounds. He also had three assists and three blocks, while twin brother Robin added six points and three blocks.

“They’re tremendous players,” said Pondexter, a high school teammate of the twins. “I can’t say enough about how much they’ve progressed on the floor. They’re a tough duo to deal with.”

Brook Lopez was Stanford’s only player to score in double figures, but that was more than enough for the Cardinal thanks to a strong defensive effort.

“Obviously we couldn’t contain Brook Lopez,” Lorenzo Romar said. “He impacted the game against us maybe as much as any player we have played against since we’ve been here. Offensively it is difficult to contain him, then defensively he and Robin allow their guards to really get physical with you. We just couldn’t get much going at the rim. They were the better team tonight, that’s for sure.”

Washington’s only lead of the night came early when a Jon Brockman layup and Ryan Appleby 3-pointer made it 5-2. Those would be Washington’s last field goals for the next seven minutes, however, as Stanford quickly built a double digit lead. At one point, the Lopez twins blocked shots by Venoy Overton, Brockman and Artem Wallace in a minute and a half long span.

The shots Washington was getting off weren’t much more successful than those being turned away. The Huskies shot just 28.8 percent in the game, their lowest total of the season. The Huskies also struggled again at the free-throw line, finishing at 56.3 percent, and they had to finish strong to get to that number. Washington made just three of nine attempts in the first half, and was three for 13 at one point before making seven straight free throws.

Stanford, which led by 11 at halftime, wasted little time putting the game way in the second half. After Ryan Appleby made a jumper to cut the lead to nine, Stanford went on a 14-2 run, which included eight points by Brook Lopez, to take a 21-point lead.

“If you come out and don’t play like you want to win the game, you’re not going to win anything in the Pac-10,” said Brockman, who had 13 points and 13 rebounds to give him his 14th double-double of the season. “We didn’t come out and want to win today, so we got what we deserved. No one is coming out saying ‘I’m not going to play today.’ But I think there are just times when — whatever it is, the night before the game, doing your routine throughout the day — there are just times you can tell that guys aren’t their normal selves, and for whatever reason we weren’t ourselves today.”

The Huskies will try to earn a split with the Bay Area schools when they host California Saturday afternoon. The Bears should come in with plenty of confidence after upsetting Washington State Thursday night.

“We’ve got to change a lot of stuff,” Brockman said. “If we come out like that we’re not going to win a single game for the rest of this season in the Pac-10.”

Contact Herald Writer John Boyle at jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more on University of Washington sports, check out the Huskies blog at heraldnet.com /huskiesblog

No. 14 Stanford 65, UW 51

FGFTReb

STANFORDMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTS

BLopez3611-179-125-133331

Washington351-50-11-5322

RLopez202-42-20-2046

Johnson302-73-40-7628

Goods121-42-20-1134

Fields222-53-41-5128

Shiller60-10-00-0000

Hill221-40-22-3312

Brown10-10-00-0000

Owens10-10-00-0020

Finger152-30-01-2124

Totals 22-5219-2711-41182165

Percentages: FG .423, FT .704. 3-Point Goals: 2-12, .167 (Fields 1-3, Johnson 1-4, B.Lopez 0-1, Shiller 0-1, Hill 0-1, Goods 0-2). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 7 (B.Lopez 3, R.Lopez 3, Washington). Turnovers: 12 (B.Lopez 5, Johnson 2, R.Lopez 2, Goods, Shiller). Steals: 5 (Washington, Johnson, R.Lopez, B.Lopez, Fields). Technical Fouls: None.

FGFTReb

WASHINGTONMinM-AM-AO-TAPFPTS

Wallace60-10-00-2010

Brockman344-125-114-130313

Overton160-13-41-1233

Morris162-70-01-1024

Appleby334-90-00-10310

Smith50-00-00-1020

Dentmon252-81-20-4105

Bryan-Amaning130-40-00-1030

Holiday80-10-00-1010

Pondexter283-58-124-81115

Wolfinger160-41-30-0031

Totals 15-5218-3212-3642251

Percentages: FG .288, FT .563. 3-Point Goals: 3-12, .250 (Appleby 2-7, Pondexter 1-1, Wolfinger 0-1, Holiday 0-1, Morris 0-1, Dentmon 0-1). Team Rebounds: 3. Blocked Shots: 3 (Morris, Holiday, Brockman). Turnovers: 11 (Brockman 4, Overton 3, Morris 2, Wolfinger, Wallace). Steals: 7 (Bryan-Amaning 2, Overton 2, Brockman, Morris, Dentmon). Technical Fouls: None.

Stanford3332—65

Washington2229—51

A—9,373.