Stanford Crosses Up No. 9 Arizona

Pac-10

Without a big man in the middle, it helps to have a smaller guy who plays big from somewhere else on the court.

Stanford has Dion Cross.

The 6-foot-2 guard had a career-high 30 points, including seven 3-pointers, to lead the Cardinal to a 80-71 upset over No. 9 Arizona on Saturday at Stanford, Calif.

Stanford, without 7-foot-1 center Tim Young for the fifth straight game because of back pain, faced Arizona’s 6-foot-10 Joseph Blair.

But Cross rose to the challenge. He was unstoppable offensively, scoring 14 of his team’s first 16 points at the start of the second half to give Stanford a 53-46 lead with 9:41 left.

Arizona, plagued by 19 turnovers, was able to edge closer at 57-51, but Darren Allaway contributed a slam dunk and Cross another 3-pointer to make it 62-51 with 6 minutes left.

Stanford sank 13-of-16 free throws in the final 2:55 to put it away. The Cardinal made 27-of-36 from the line overall.

“Every time they got close, we seemed to be able to free up Dion and get a basket,” Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. “Our confidence was up after Thursday (a win over Arizona State), and for now, we’ve got a win we haven’t had for a long time. We’re going to enjoy this one for a while.”

Stanford (8-2, 2-0 Pac-10), stopped a 15-game losing string against Arizona. Stanford had last defeated the Wildcats seven years and one day ago.

Arizona (10-3, 0-2) lost to California 99-75 Thursday night in its worst defeat in 13 years.

Cross, averaging 13.8 points per game, said he was probably due for an outbreak like this one.

“I’m glad it happened today. We needed it,” he said. “It boosts our confidence a lot. This was the first time in four years since I’ve been here that we beat them. This will carry over to the L.A. trip (against UCLA and Southern Cal next weekend).”

Stanford 80, Arizona 71

Arizona (10-3) - Davis 6-12 4-6 16, Williams 5-5 0-1 12, Blair 5-11 1-3 11, McLean 2-3 0-0 6, Geary 4-11 3-4 13, Dickerson 3-8 4-4 10, Simon 1-3 0-0 3, Eafon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 12-18 71.

Stanford (8-2) - Harbour 1-5 2-4 5, Poppink 3-11 8-10 15, Allaway 1-6 2-2 4, Cross 9-14 5-5 30, Knight 4-11 9-10 18, Lee 1-2 0-0 3, Jackson 0-3 0-0 0, Seaton 1-3 1-3 3, Sauer 1-3 0-2 2, Weems 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-58 27-36 80.

Halftime-Stanford 37, Arizona 33. A-7,391.

Cal 97, Arizona State 82

At Oakland, Calif., Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 28 points and Ed Gray added a career-high 27 as the Golden Bears (7-3, 2-0) hit nine 3-pointers on their way to dealing the Sun Devils (5-5, 0-2) their third straight loss.

Abdur-Rahim, a freshman who leads the Pac-10 in scoring, also had 15 rebounds. Gray had tied his career high by scoring 22 points in Thursday’s 99-75 upset victory over No. 9 Arizona.

Michael Stewart had a career-high 13 points and added five blocks - all in the first half - for California. Stewart had not scored more than four points in any previous game this season.

Jeremy Veal had 21 points and Quincy Brewer had a career-high 20 for Arizona State.

Ron Riley, the Sun Devils’ leading scorer with 22 points a game, was benched for all but 5 minutes because coach Bill Frieder felt he has not been providing enough team leadership. Riley, who began the day second in Pac-10 scoring, finished with five points.

Arizona State (5-5) - Brewer 8-16 4-5 20, Zaletel 3-9 0-0 6, Oziwo 2-4 2-2 6, Veal 7-12 4-4 21, Holly 5-19 2-2 16, Richardson 1-2 0-0 2, Farrington 3-6 0-0 6, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Riley 1-3 2-2 5. Totals 30-72 14-15 82.

California (7-3) - Abdur-Rahim 11-19 5-7 28, Gardner 3-6 6-8 14, Stewart 6-8 1-3 13, Duck 4-10 0-0 9, McGruder 0-6 3-4 3, McQueen 1-4 0-0 2, Gray 11-16 0-0 27, Gonzalez 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 36-71 16-24 97.

Halftime-California 54, Arizona State 45. A-10,400.