Knight's 20 Points Paces No. 20 Cardinal Past Wshington State, 76-63

PULLMAN, Wash. -- Brevin Knight scored 23 points, leading 20th-ranked Stanford to a 76-63 Pac-10 Conference victory over Washington State.

The Cardinal (16-6, 9-5 Pac-10) have won three straight and moved into a tie for third place in the conference with Southern California, two games behind UCLA.

Stanford, which led by seven points at halftime, opened its largest lead at 51-38 on Tim Young's two free throws with 11:17 to play. The Cardinal maintained the 13-point edge for the next two minutes before Washington State used a 13-4 burst, caped by Isaac Fontaine's three-pointer with 5:56 to go, to get within 59-55.

Knight hit a free throw and Arthur Lee made a pair to re-open a seven-point bulge, but Fontaine and Steve Slotemaker each made a pair of free throws to get the Cougars within three, the closest they had been since the 4:13 mark of the first half, with 4:31 remaining.

Mark Madsen made a pair of free throws, and after Fontaine cut Stanford's lead to 64-61 with a jumper with 3:45 left, the Cardinal answered with a 12-2 spurt to close the game. Madsen ignited the run with a dunk and Knight was 6-of-6 from the line and had a steal as the Cardinal pulled away.

Stanford, who scored the first 12 points in the first meeting between the schools, raced to a 9-0 lead on Knight's three-pointer with 15:53 left in the first half. Blake Pengelly ended the run with a three-pointer, but the Cardinal continued building their lead, opening a 21-10 bulge when Madsen converted a three-point play with 10:52 to go.

The Cougars responded with a 12-2 run, capped by Fontaine's layup, to cut the Stanford lead to 23-22 with 5:47 to go. But Knight had seven points as the Cardinal answered with a 12-4 spurt to grab a 35-26 lead with 1:01 left in the half.

Lee and Madsen had 13 points apiece for the Cardinal, who shot 47 percent (24-for-51) from the field. Pete Sauer recorded 11 points and eight rebounds and Tim Young contributed 10 points and three blocks.

Fontaine scored 26 points to lead the Cougars (11-14, 3-10). He needs just nine points to break Steve Puidokas' school-scoring record of 1,894 points.

Carlos Daniel, who leads the conference in rebounding, tallied 10 points and eight boards for Washington State, which dropped its fifth straight game and has lost eight of its last nine. The three other starters combined for just four points.

The Cougars shot 39.6 percent (19-for-48) and were outrebounded, 36-25. They have been outrebounded in every Pac-10 loss.

Stanford swept the season series after the two teams split six meetings the previous three years.

STANFORD (76)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Sauer           27   4-6   1-2   1-8  2  2   11
Weems           36  2-10   2-2   0-2  0  4    6
Young           27   3-8   4-4   1-4  3  3   10
Lee             33   4-6   4-5   1-1  3  1   13
Knight          38  7-12  7-10   3-5  6  4   23
Moseley          6   0-2   0-1   0-0  1  1    0
Jackson          5   0-1   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Mendez           2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Van Elswyk       3   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  2    0
Seaton           2   0-0   0-0   1-1  0  0    0
Madsen          21   4-6   5-5   4-8  0  4   13
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 24-51 23-29 12-31 15 21   76
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.471, FT-.793. 3-Point Goals:
5-17, .294 (Sauer 2-3, Weems 0-5, Lee 1-1, Knight
2-5, Moseley 0-2, Jackson 0-1). Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 5 (Young 3, Madsen 2). Turnovers:
15 (Young 5, Knight 3, Lee 2, Sauer 2, Madsen,
Seaton, Van Elswyk). Steals: 6 (Knight 2, Lee 2,
Young 2).
WASHINGTON ST (63)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Daniel          39  4-14   2-2   1-8  1  3   10
Fontaine        38  9-16   7-8   1-3  2  4   26
Johnson         25   1-3   0-0   1-3  0  1    2
De La Fuente     4   0-2   0-0   0-1  0  0    0
Jackson         16   0-0   2-4   0-1  1  1    2
Pengelly        24   2-5   0-0   0-0  2  2    6
Archibald       22   3-4   0-0   1-1  2  3    8
Crosby          16   0-2   4-4   2-2  2  3    4
Slotemaker      16   0-2   5-6   0-1  1  5    5
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 19-48 20-24  6-20 11 22   63
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.396, FT-.833. 3-Point Goals:
5-12, .417 (Fontaine 1-5, Pengelly 2-3, Archibald
2-3, Crosby 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Blocked
shots: 2 (Archibald, Crosby). Turnovers: 14
(Daniel 4, Pengelly 4, Johnson 2, Crosby, De La
Fuente, Fontaine, Slotemaker). Steals: 6
(Archibald 2, Crosby 2, Fontaine, Slotemaker).
__________________________________
Stanford           35   41  -   76
Washington St      28   35  -   63
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 5,294. Officials:
Scott Thornley, Mark Ayotte, Craig Griamore.

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