March 2, 2002
By MEL REISNER
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. - Even in a so-so game by his standards, Casey Jacobsen was there for Stanford down the stretch.
"I don't care if I've missed 10 in a row or I've made 10 in a row, I want the ball at the end," said Jacobsen, who scored 19 of his 29 points in the second half as the 17th-ranked Cardinal finished the regular season with a road sweep, beating Arizona State 81-76 Saturday night.
"At the end of the game I have more confidence in my shot, because that's when my team needs me."
Curtis Borchardt had 19 points and 17 rebounds, leading Stanford to a 49-31 rebounding edge that proved critical, and Julius Barnes added 16 points.
"They're a physical team to begin with," Borchardt said. "They play a lot of guys, so they don't worry about fouling. On top of that, it was senior night, and for some of their guys it was the last game, and they wanted to send them out with a win. They came out pretty strong."
The Cardinal (19-8, 12-6 Pac-10) won their second straight and sixth in eight. Stanford snapped a two-game skid by beating No. 14 Arizona 76-71 on Thursday night and wound up beating the Sun Devils (14-13, 7-11) for the ninth consecutive time.
"This is not an easy place to play and get a win," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "ASU is real quick and they overplay everything. Our guys kept together. Casey was real good and understood this. Curtis was huge rebounding for us. He just got everything."
Chad Prewitt had 14 of his 18 points in the second half for Arizona State, which finished the regular season by facing five ranked teams in a row, the most in school history. The Sun Devils were 1-4 during the stretch, beating only UCLA on Feb. 16.
Curtis Millage and Awvee Storey each scored 15 points, while Tommy Smith had 12.
Jacobsen didn't have a field goal until 3:18 was left in the first half and was 7-of-16 from the field. But he made four of seven shots in the second half and was 14-of-18 at the free throw line. The Cardinals were 32-of-39 overall from the line.
"Many, many, many games come down to free throws, especially when you're playing a team that is as good as you are," Jacobsen said. "It comes down to who executes down the stretch."
Arizona State made up a five-point deficit early the second half, taking a 47-46 lead on two free throws by Smith with 12:47 left.
But Joe Kirchofer scored on a putback for the Cardinal 49 seconds later, Arizona State's James Braxton missed a free throw and Jacobsen made two at the other end with 11:37 to play, opening a 50-47 lead that Stanford held until the end.
It was the start of a 12-point splurge over the next 4{ minutes by Jacobsen, who capped it with a 3-pointer that gave the Cardinal a 64-55 lead with 7:07 remaining.
"This was just another game that we needed to win, and we weren't able to do that," Storey said. "It's very frustrating, because we know what we can do rebounding-wise and free throw-wise, and that can't be the time for us to fold."
In the final minutes, Arizona State pulled within 67-65 on a 3-pointer by Kenny Crandall, who spent most of the game on the bench with a sore right foot.
But Josh Childress made a key follow shot with 1:45 to go, and Stanford made 12 of 14 free throws over the final 2:41. The Sun Devils, 20-of-36 for the game, went 4-of-8 over the same span.
"I thought our guys battled pretty hard, but we didn't make plays when we had to make plays," Arizona State coach Rob Evans said. "We had a chance down two, we had to come up with a rebound, and we couldn't."
The Sun Devils led most of the first half, but never by double digits.
They took a 26-18 lead on two free throws by Millage with 5:34 remaining.
But Jacobsen had seven points and Barnes made two 3-pointers as the Cardinal outscored Arizona State 19-6 for a 37-32 halftime lead.