Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN WIRE REPORTS
In the final seconds, Stanford coach Mike Montgomery put the game in Brevin Knight's hands, and Peter Sauer came along to make it a winning decision.
Sauer hit an 8-foot jump shot off a feed from Knight with six seconds left, and No. 23 Stanford beat 12th-ranked Arizona 81-80 on Thursday night.
"It was not a real hard shot," Sauer said. "Brevin put it right there for me. That's a play we do every day in practice."
The Cardinal, trailing 80-79, got the ball with 15 seconds left after Tim Young rebounded a miss by Arizona's Miles Simon.
"We asked Brevin what he wanted to do," Montgomery said. "We wanted Brevin to go 1-on-1 and make the play himself. Sauer was the one who got open and got a nice, soft shot, and that was it."
Knight set up the score when he drove into the lane, drawing in Arizona's defense, before passing to the open Sauer.
"Coach told me to make the play. That's all he said," Knight said. "(Bennett) Davison took the fake and went up and I was looking for whoever was open. My first thought was to shoot it myself, but I saw Pete and made the pass.
Arizona had one final chance, but Mike Bibby's off-balance 3-pointer missed badly.
Knight had 23 points and 12 assists, one under his school record. Tim Young had 22 points and 17 rebounds for Stanford (19-7, 11-6 Pac-10), and Sauer finished with 10 points.
Michael Dickerson, who fouled out with just under three minutes left, led Arizona (19-8, 11-6) with 22 points. Jason Terry had 17, Bennett Davison 14 and Simon 13.
Arizona coach Lute Olson said the Wildcats made the mistake of letting Knight get a pass off.
"We knew Knight was going to get the ball. We wanted to double him and we didn't get that quickly enough. And against a great player like that, that was the difference," Olson said.
Still, Olson said the Wildcats played exceptionally well in a hostile environment. Stanford remained unbeaten in 11 games at Maples Pavilion this season.
"Both teams played really hard and well," Olson said. "It was probably the best game we've played all year because of this environment. I told our players that this is not a negative for us. Playing Stanford here is as tough a thing as anybody has to do in this league. That includes playing at UCLA and Oregon. I was very pleased with how mentally tough we were."
Arizona took an 80-77 lead on Davison's putback with 2:33 left, but that proved to be the Wildcats' last score.
Stanford saw a 3-point try by Kris Weems rim out, but Knight stole the ball from Bibby.
The turnover ignited a fast break, with Knight dishing off to Young for a dunk with 56 seconds left. Simon then missed and Young rebounded, setting up Sauer's game-winner.
The Wildcats, up by two at the half, threatened to blow out Stanford early. They opened a 21-10 lead before Stanford put a halt to the strong start by fashioning a 17-0 run that carried the Cardinal to a 27-21 advantage.
Knight got it started when he pulled up for a 12-foot jumper. He scored seven points in the run and assisted on a 3-pointer by David Moseley.
* NO. 2 MINNESOTA 81, MICH IGAN STATE 74: Sam Jacobson scored 18 points and Minnesota finished 14-0 at Williams Arena, its first perfect home record since 1948-49. The Big Ten champion Golden Gophers (27-2, 16-1) won their 12th in a row overall.
* NO. 9 UCLA 87, WASHINGTON 85: Charles O'Bannon scored a career-high 31 points and UCLA rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half to win on the road. O'Bannon, whose previous best was 27 points, led the Pac-10 champion Bruins (20-7, 14-3) to their ninth straight win over Washington (16-10, 9-8).
Conference USA
* NO. 10 CINCINNATI 71, SAINT LOUIS 43: Danny Fortson scored 15 points despite 5-for-15 shooting and Cincinnati (25-6) routed the host school. Three technical fouls were called during a first-half fracas that had Saint Louis' Sekeue Barentine shoving Fortson.
* CHARLOTTE 64, NO. 20 LOU ISVILLE 60: DeMarco Johnson and Sean Colson each made two free throws in the last 16 as North Carolina-Charlotte (20-8) rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half and beat Louisville (23-8).
In other C-USA quarterfinals, Alabama-Birmingham beat Tulane 74-70 and Marquette defeated Memphis 63-45.
Atlantic 10
* NO. 11 TEMPLE 69, XAVIER 62: Lamont Barnes scored eight of his 16 points in overtime as Temple won in the quarterfinals at Philadelphia. The game was tied at 62 before the Owls (19-9) got the last seven points to eliminate Xavier (22-5).
* NO. 19 ST. JOSEPH'S 75, ST. BONAVENTURE 59: Arthur "Yah" Davis scored 20 points as St. Joseph's (22-6) beat St. Bonaventure (14-14) for the third time this season.
In other games, Rhode Island defeated Virginia Tech 67-63 and George Washington beat Massachusetts 58-41.
Big East
* NO. 21 VILLANOVA 80, SYR ACUSE 70: Freshman Tim Thomas scored 20 points and Villanova (22-8) advanced to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden. Syracuse (19-12) trailed just 64-61 with 6 1/2 minutes left before the Wildcats pulled away.
In other games, Georgetown downed Miami 63-59, Providence beat West Virginia 76-69 and Boston College defeated Pittsburgh 76-68.
Southeastern
* NO. 24 GEORGIA 75, LSU 54: At Memphis, Tenn., Louisiana State trailed by three points with 9:45 left before Georgia (22-7) broke away. Michael Chadwick finished with 20 points for Georgia. Duane Spencer scored 12 for LSU. Georgia moved on to play Arkansas in the quarterfinals.
In other first-round games, Alabama beat Florida 80-66, Auburn defeated Tennessee 67-54 and Vanderbilt topped Mississippi State 73-67 in overtime.
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