Nov. 18, 1997

Stanford Routs USD

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- For four years, Brevin Knight ran the show as Stanford's point guard. Tuesday night, Stanford started learning how to get along now that Knight has moved on to the NBA.

Mark Madsen scored 18 points and Arthur Lee, making his first start at point guard since Knight's departure, added 11 points as No. 15 Stanford beat the University of San Diego 87-57 Tuesday night.

"It's unfair to put so much emphasis on Arthur," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "Tonight, he made mostly good decisions.

"Arthur knows that we have the personnel under the basket and he needs to get the ball to the right area. There's a way bigger premium this year on how our point guards play in the absence of Brevin."

Kris Weems also had 11 and Tim Young 10 for the Cardinal, who won their 14th straight game at Maples Pavilion dating to the final contest of the 1995-96 season.

Stanford returned four starters from last year's team that reached the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament but lost Knight, the Cardinal's all-time leader in assists and steals. He now plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lee said he's aware that he'll be under scrutiny as the successor to a great player but added he looked forward to the challenge of replacing Knight.

"I played OK, sufficient for this game," said Lee, who had three assists and three turnovers in 17 minutes. "I made way too many turnovers and a few errant passes but otherwise I feel great about stepping into the starting lineup."

Lee had the Cardinal's first points in the teams' season opener, scoring on a driving layup, drawing a foul and making the free throw to complete a three-point play. He scored six more points in the first half, helping Stanford pull away to 53-28 halftime lead. The Toreros scored the first four points in the second half, cutting the deficit to 19, but never got any closer the rest of the way.

Ryan Williams led San Diego with 16 points, the only Torero scoring in double figures. Nosa Obasohan and Brian Miles had 9 points apiece.

Stanford outshot San Diego 47 percent to 40 percent and had nearly twice as many rebounds 46-24. Peter Sauer, Madsen and Young, part of the tallest frontline in Stanford's history, combined for 22 rebounds.

"Stanford keeps bringing in all that beef one after another under the basket and it's hard to compete when your leading scorer (Miles) is on the bench in foul trouble," San Diego coach Brad Holland said.

The game marked the debut of Stanford's highly regarded freshman forwards, twins Jason and Jarron Collins. They scored 7 points each and had 10 rebounds between them.

The Cardinal also had an advantage at the free-throw line, making 23 of 33 free throws compared to 13 of 20 for San Diego.

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