The Stanford men’s basketball team lives to play another day in the Pac-10 Tournament, as the seventh-seeded Cardinal upset the second-seeded Sun Devils 70-61 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
The Cardinal led nearly the entire game, as Arizona State’s only lead of the game was 30-29 in the first minute of the second half.
Stanford was led by its usual suspects, sophomore guard Jeremy Green and senior forward Landry Fields. Green finished with 18 points and six rebounds, while Fields added 17 points and five rebounds. The 17 points by Fields kept his streak of scoring at least 14 in every game this season, although he only shot 4-11 from the free-throw line.
Free throw problems were once again evident for Stanford, as the Cardinal shot only 18-32 from the charity stripe. The Sun Devils also outrebounded the Cardinal 36-29 and had 11 assists to Stanford’s seven.
The difference in the game, though, was shooting. Stanford shot 54.8 percent from the field, while Arizona State shot only 38.9 percent.
Just two weeks after committing only five turnovers in a win over the Cardinal, the Sun Devils turned the ball over 17 times, leading to 25 Stanford points. Arizona State could only muster 11 points off Stanford’s 13 turnovers.
Stanford received a spark off the bench from senior guard Emmanuel Igbinosa, who scored a season-high 12 points. Arizona State was led by junior forward Rihards Kuksiks, who scored 15 points in the first half but was shut out by Fields in the second half. Senior guard Derek Glasser, senior center Eric Boateng and junior guard Ty Abbott all reached double digits in points as well for the Sun Devils, but Arizona State only had seven bench points (all by senior guard Jerren Shipp).
With the win, Stanford advances to tomorrow’s semifinals against third-seeded Washington, who defeated sixth-seeded Oregon State 59-52 Thursday night. The Cardinal lost both matchups with the Huskies this season, 94-61 in Seattle and 78-61 at Stanford. The semifinal game is scheduled to take place at 8:30 p.m. Friday night at Staples Center.