STANFORD, Calif. (AP) -- Even with the No. 1 ranking and an
undefeated season to worry about, Stanford still got a special
thrill from pounding its archrival.
|  | | Casey Jacobsen, center, Michael McDonald, left, and Julius Barnes, take a load off after Stanford whipped Cal. Jacobsen scored a team-high 19 points. |
Casey Jacobsen hit three 3-pointers and scored 19 points, and
Jarron Collins had 18 points and six rebounds as Stanford beat
California 84-58 Wednesday night.
While the Cardinal (16-0, 5-0 Pac-10) weren't really threatened
in beating the Golden Bears for a school-record eighth straight
time, the rivalry had some added spark this year thanks to Cal's
improvement and a few testy confrontations at Maples Pavilion.
"Cal's got a pretty good team, but they talk a lot of trash and
take a lot of cheap shots every time we play them," point guard
Mike McDonald said. "That's the only way they have any hope of
beating us."
Cal (11-5, 3-2), which lost for just the second time in 12
games, stayed with the Cardinal until the second half, when
Jacobsen's outside bombs and the inside play of twins Jarron and
Jason Collins became too much. Still, the rivalry isn't nearly as
one-sided as it was in recent years.
"We're very hard to play at home when we're that confident,"
Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "It was a good win, one I was
nervous about beforehand. Cal is a good team that's going to get
better."
Jason Collins had 15 points for the Cardinal, who put the game
away with a 16-2 run that gave them a 26-point lead midway through
the second half.
"In the first half, we were playing lax -- maybe scared, I don't
know," Cal forward Sean Lampley said.
Solomon Hughes led a late 14-6 Cal run that forced Montgomery to
re-insert his starters in the final minutes. Brian Wethers had 18
points and Lampley added 14 for the Bears, who looked nothing like
the team that lost 101-50 to the Cardinal last season at Maples --
Stanford's biggest win in the rivalry's history.
"Every time you play a top team like Stanford, you learn
something," Cal coach Ben Braun said. "Good teams always tell you
where you are. Stanford makes you work harder. I was disappointed
that we didn't work as hard as we have in previous games."
The Cardinal, who shot 53 percent, won with its now-familiar
formula of proficient outside shooting from Jacobsen and Ryan
Mendez paired with inside play from the Collins twins. Stanford's
offensive attack retained remarkable balance, with eight players
making significant offensive contributions.
"It doesn't matter what the other team does as long as we play
our game," Jarron Collins said. "This team is as confident as
we've ever been since I came here."
Stanford moved within two victories of matching the best start
in school history and won its third straight since taking over the
nation's top ranking. The Cardinal and Georgetown (16-0) are
the only remaining undefeated Division I teams.
Stanford's home court had plenty of energy for
the 233rd meeting between the Bay area rivals. Cal's band was
crammed into the back rows of one corner of the small gym, and
Stanford students paraded the Axe -- won by the Cardinal in the
schools' annual football matchup -- during the first half.
The teams were caught up in the intensity as well. The officials
called needless technical fouls on Jarron Collins and Cal's Dennis
Gates after the two collided and exchanged harsh words in the first
half, and Mendez exchanged shoves with Joe Shipp moments later.
"They got into Jarron's face, kicked him around a little, but
teams are going to try things like that to knock us out of our
game," Mendez said. "We're used to that."
The always-entertaining Stanford student body was in top form,
ragging Cal with chants of "NIT!" and "Cal needs Marsha!"
moments after a woman named Marsha made three straight 3-pointers
to win $1,000 in a school promotion.
Both teams play host to non-conference opponents on Saturday.
New Mexico visits Stanford, while South Florida goes to Berkeley.
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ALSO SEE
Men's College Basketball Scoreboard
California Clubhouse
Stanford Clubhouse
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