Stanford spotted Western Kentucky a 1-0 lead before their Midwest Regional opener tipped off Thursday night at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.
It wasn’t because the eighth-seeded Cardinal thought the No. 9 Hilltoppers needed an edge. The Cardinal was assessed an “administrative technical” before the game for failing to supply a roster and starting lineup to the official scorer 10 minutes before tipoff, as required by rule.
“Stanford did not supply a starting lineup after its game administration [staff] was notified,” an official statement said.
Western Kentucky’s Patrick Sparks made 1-of-2 free throws. But the Cardinal overcame that handicap and rallied for an 84-68 triumph. The Cardinal has won eight straight first-round NCAA tournament games.
Center Curtis Borchardt led the Cardinal with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Casey Jacobsen added 17 points, six rebounds and four assists despite 4-for-12 shooting.
Stanford limited the Hilltoppers to only 23.3 percent field-goal shooting in the first half. Stanford shut out Hilltoppers star center Chris Marcus. The Cardinal ran out to a 36-22 lead at intermission and never trailed again.
Stanford (21-9) will play top-seeded Kansas in the second round Saturday. Stanford is in the tournament for the eighth straight year and has won in the opening round each time.
Wake Forest 83, Pepperdine 74: In Sacramento, just when Pepperdine thought it was ready to exorcise its Atlantic Coast Conference demons, the nastiest Demon Deacon of all showed up.
Wake Forest senior center Darius Songaila scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half as the Demon Deacons held off the Waves in a Midwest Regional first-round game at Arco Arena.
Wake Forest (21-12) advances to play Oregon on Saturday while Pepperdine (22-9) fell to 0-12 against ACC opponents.
Demon Deacons senior guard Craig Dawson scored a game-high 19 points while senior guard Broderick Hicks added 15.
The No. 10-seeded Waves were led by junior guard Devin Montgomery’s 18 points.
The seventh-seeded Demon Deacons scored the first nine points of the game and ran out to a 13-point advantage on two occasions, the last at 17-4 with 14:02 remaining in the first half.
But Pepperdine tied the score 40-40 less than two minutes into the second half and grabbed its first lead of the game at 43-42 with 17:22 to play.
Then came Songaila, who scored in double figures for the 19th consecutive game and the 32nd time in 33 games this season.
It was the most points scored by Wake Forest in a NCAA tournament game since the Demon Deacons beat Iowa 84-78 on March 21, 1993.
Oregon 81, Montana 62: Oregon was full of early-game jitters as the Ducks were feeling the pressure of being a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament.
But after taking a deep breath and calming themselves, the Ducks were able to outlast No. 15-seeded Montana 81-62 in a first-round game in Sacramento. It was Oregon’s first win in the NCAA’s since 1960.
“It might not have been an up-and-down track meet,” said Oregon sophomore guard Luke Jackson, who scored 18 points. “But toward the end of the game I felt their guards were worn down. I felt we controlled the tempo.”
Oregon sophomore point guard Luke Ridnour also had 18 points while senior guard Frederick Jones, the lone Duck with any real NCAA experience, finished with 16 points in 29 foul-plagued minutes. Robert Johnson, a junior forward, had a career-high 15 points on five of six shooting from the field.
Montana was led by senior forward Ryan Slider’s 12 points.
The normally high-flying Ducks (24-8), who averaged 85.9 points coming into the tournament, were stuck in the mire with the Grizzlies in the early going, leading by just two, 12-10, 11 minutes into the game.
But the Ducks eventually righted themselves and got their transition game going.
Montana’s season ended at 16-15.
