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Tuesday, March 27
Stanford never in control vs. Terps
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Except for a 7-0 run at the start of the second half, Stanford was never in control against a bigger, quicker Maryland team.
The tempo, scoring and defensive punch belonged to the third-seeded Terrapins, who advanced to their first Final Four with an 87-73 victory Saturday in the West Regional championship.
"We got ourselves in too big a hole," said Casey Jacobsen, who
had 14 points and nine rebounds. "At no point in this game did we
have control."
Jacobsen, who had a career-high 27 points in a semifinal victory
over Cincinnati, had different defenders in his face all game.
"I felt I was double-teamed every time I saw the light of day
off a screen, especially in the second half," he said. "If
they're going to play me that way, I don't know what else I can
do."
The 7-foot Collins twins felt the same way.
Jason had 12 points and five rebounds, and Jarron had nine
points and two boards. Both twins were in foul trouble in the
second half, and Jason spent precious minutes on the bench.
Without their twin towers in the game at the same time, the
Cardinal had little hope of stopping 6-foot-8 Lonny Baxter, who
scored 24 points.
"He made a lot of tough shots over us. When I got in foul
trouble, the other guys weren't able to get around in front of him
as much," Jason said. "It was very frustrating."
Trailing by 10 points, Stanford scored the first seven points of
the second half to get to 42-39 _ its smallest deficit of the half.
Jarron scored inside, Ryan Mendez had a layup off a fast break and
Jacobsen hit one of his two 3-pointers in the game.
"We finally gained momentum on that run. They called a timeout
to stop it," Jacobsen said. "We had fire for five minutes in the
game. We thought things are going our way, and all of a sudden,
they're scoring again"
The Terps reeled off nine consecutive points in 68 seconds to
regain a double-digit lead that they never relinquished.
"Every time we seemed to make a play, they had an answer. They
disrupted our offense," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "It
was frustrating. It was like we were constantly playing out of a
hole."
The Cardinal shot a season-low 41 percent, while giving up a
season-high 87 points. Their loss was their first in 20 road games
this season, including an 8-1 mark on neutral courts.
For the first time in a long while, Mendez looked around the
huddle and didn't see a killer instinct in his teammates' eyes.
"I thought we weren't as mentally prepared as we should have
been. It seemed like the guys were a little bit too relaxed," said
Mendez, who led Stanford with 18 points, including four 3-pointers.
The Cardinal couldn't even count on Mendez's flawless free-throw
shooting. The nation's leader at 93 percent, he missed two in the
game.
Jacobsen set a single-season record for 3-pointers with his
first basket of the game. He ended with 84, breaking the mark of 82
set by Dion Cross in 1994-95.
The Cardinal finished with a school-record 31 wins against three
losses in the final game for seniors Michael McDonald, Jarron
Collins and Mendez.
"It's killing me," said McDonald, who had seven assists. "We
went out there with the purpose to get to the Final Four and we
didn't do that."
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