March 20, 1998

Box Score

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Even with a 7-footer who was a non-factor, Stanford had more than enough size to topple Purdue.

When Tim Young drew his third foul and sat down with 6:41 left in the first half, it actually was the takeoff point for the No. 3 seed Cardinal. Stanford finished the first half on a 17-2 run and held on for a 67-59 victory over the second-seeded Boilermakers in the Midwest Regional semifinals Friday night.

Stanford (29-4) got a chance to show off its depth while breaking the school record for victories. It will be a heavy favorite against either No. 8 seed Rhode Island or No. 13 Valparaiso, which met in Friday's second semifinal, in the regional final on Sunday.

The Cardinal hasn't advanced this far since the 1941-42 team, which was 28-4, won the national championship.

The loss meant another bitter end for Purdue (28-8), the top remaining seed in the Midwest after Kansas lost to Rhode Island in the second round. Purdue has also been a No. 1 seed twice in the last five years, but coach Gene Keady has yet to make it to the Final Four.

This time around, poor shooting sank Purdue. The Boilermakers shot only 29 percent in the second half, 31 percent overall.

Mark Madsen led a dominating inside game for Stanford with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Jarron Collins, who made the Pac-10 freshman team, stepped in for Young and tied his career-high with 12 points and added 11 rebounds. He entered the game averaging three points and three rebounds.

Brad Miller had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Purdue. Chad Austin added 12 points, but was 4-for-18.

This is the tallest Stanford team in history, with eight players 6-7 or better. All that size showed in the first half, when the Cardinal held a whopping 29-11 rebounding advantage and Young had only one of them.

After Jaraan Cornell's 3-pointer with 4:58 to go put Purdue ahead 24-20, the Boilermakers got only two points the rest of the half. Madsen and Collins had six points apiece in the run that put Stanford up 37-26 at the break. Each had a second-chance basket and all of their points except for two Madsen free throws came from inside.

The game was extremely physical and both teams ran into foul trouble. Miller drew his third foul late in the first half, Madsen was whistled for his fourth with 11:53 to go and fouled out with 1:30 left.

Attrition hurt Purdue a lot more. Stanford has so much depth it played several minutes of the second half with five reserves, fired up shots without regard for the shot clock and lost little ground until a late 8-2 Purdue run made the finish a bit interesting.

Brian Cardinal had a three-point play to cut it to 60-57 with 1:31 to go. Stanford answered with a 3-pointer by David Mosley and Arthur Lee hit four free throws in the final 49 seconds.

Purdue was 2-for-20 from 3-point range in the second half in a vain catchup attempt. That made similar struggles by Stanford, which went nearly 7 1/2 minutes between baskets, a moot point.