Jan. 3, 1998

Stanford Opens Pac-10 with 20-point Rout of Beavers

CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) - Arthur Lee scored 16 points and Stanford's defense harassed and intimidated Oregon State into a miserable shooting night Saturday as the seventh-ranked Cardinal routed the Beavers 68-48 in the Pac-10 opener for both teams.

Stanford (12-0) is off to its second-best start ever and just two short of its best, 14-0 61 years ago.

The Cardinal were upset by the Beavers in Corvallis a year ago, but Stanford never trailed this time.

The Beavers (9-3) couldn't recover from one of the worst shooting halfs imaginable.

Oregon State shot 9 percent from the field (3-for-31) in the first half, falling behind 30-14 at halftime.

The Beavers, who shot 18 percent for the game, missed their first 11 shots and were 1-for-24 at one point. Oregon State didn't get its first field goal until reserve Jerome Vaden's 3-pointer with 12:46 left in the first half. Its second came nearly seven minutes later.

Peter Sauer had 14 points and 12 rebounds for Stanford, while Tim Young added 12 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots.

Corey Benjamin scored 15 points for the Beavers, all in the second half, and John-Blair Bickerstaff added 10.

Stanford was without starting forward Mark Madsen, who is out 10 days-to-two weeks with a stress fracture in his right foot, an injury that was diagnosed during the week but wasn't announced until Friday.

Madsen was hardly missed.

Stanford's big front line overpowered the Beavers, blocking six shots in the first half.

Oregon State's Ron Grady, the MVP at this week's Hilo Holiday Shootout, didn't score. He was 0-for-9 in the first half and didn't take a shot in the second before fouling out.

After falling behind by 22 points early in the second half, the Beavers scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 42-27 on Todd Marshall's two free throws with 13:39 to play. But four Stanford players scored on an 8-0 run that made it 50-27 on Lee's two free throws with 13:39 remaining.

After that, Oregon State never was closer than 17 and Stanford led by as many as 24.

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