Cardinal Suffers First Loss, 93-75

Men's basketball team falls to Arizona at home.

Box Score

By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - With center Tim Young on the bench in foul trouble, Stanford's solid defense was no match for the frenetic offense of Arizona.

Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson each had 26 points as No. 6 Arizona defeated No. 4 Stanford 93-75 Thursday night, the first loss of the season for the Cardinal.

Arizona (18-3, 8-0 Pac-10) won its 11th straight, the Wildcats' longest winning streak since a 19-game streak in 1992-93.

Stanford (18-1, 7-1) had its school-record 18-game winning streak snapped.

Bibby had 10 assists, including a couple of alley-oop passes from center court for dunks, as Arizona won for the 17th time in its last 20 games against Stanford.

"I don't think we could have played any better. This is as good as we've played all year," Arizona coach Lute Olson said. "If anybody wonders how good Mike Bibby is, just look at those stats."

Peter Sauer had a career-high 23 points for the Cardinal, which lost Young to foul trouble for much of the second half.

"Arizona showed how great they can be. This may be the best game I've ever seen them play," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "Tim Young being on the bench hurt us. We needed to dominate on the boards. They made us pay by beating us underneath."

The Stanford loss left No. 3 Utah, which improved to 18-0 on Thursday night with a 62-56 win over Texas-El Paso, as the only undefeated major college team.

The game was played at Arizona's up-tempo pace and the Wildcats, who have the Pac-10's best offense with 96 points per game, improved to 12-0 this season when they score at least 90 points.

Stanford, which also had a school-record 20-game home winning streak snapped, entered the game allowing a Pac-10 low 63 points per game.

Arizona led 46-43 at the half, and took command in the second half with Young on the bench after getting his fourth foul just 1:44 into the second period.

Bibby hit a leaning jumper and followed with a long 3-pointer to complete a 10-0 run that gave Arizona its biggest lead at 59-48.

A one-handed slam by Eugene Edgerson and a 3-pointer from the corner by Jason Terry extended the Arizona lead to 70-57 with 10:51 remaining. And when Bibby hit a 3-pointer with 9:16 left, licking his right index finger to celebrate the shot, the Arizona lead was up to 75-60.

Stanford pulled within eight points on a 3-pointer by David Moseley with 5:36 left, but Dickerson responded seconds later with his own arching 3-pointer and Arizona held a comfortable lead the rest of the game.

Arizona scored the game's first six points and opened a quick 9-2 lead, and led for most of the first half. Even worse for the Cardinal, Young picked up his third foul with 5:01 left before halftime.

Dickerson had 13 points in the first half for Arizona, while A.J. Bramlett had 11 points and Bibby had 11 points and eight assists. Sauer led Stanford in the first half with 12 points, while Kris Weems had 10.