Stanford Wins 24th in a Row, 73-47

When the ball hits the backboard and bounces in for a baseline three-point basket, you know things are going right.

Josh Childress did just that on the way to scoring 12 points Thursday night in No. 1 Stanford’s school-record 24th consecutive victory, 73-47 over Oregon State at Palo Alto.

Childress also had five assists, two rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot for the Cardinal, who remained one of two unbeaten teams in Division I. No. 2 Saint Joseph’s is 25-0.

Point guard Chris Hernandez isn’t surprised the Cardinal is getting the breaks such as that shot by Childress -- he says that’s what happens when you play good defense.

“We had one of those and we also had a bank shot,” he said. “That’s all sparked from our defense. I think the general consensus was the last time we played this team we came out pretty flat. We wanted to make a statement.”

Hernandez scored 11 of his 13 points in the first 11 minutes and made three shots from three-point range as the Cardinal (24-0, 15-0 in the Pacific 10) built a big lead.

David Lucas had 14 points and 11 rebounds for Oregon State (11-14, 5-10), which had won three of four after a six-game losing streak. The Beavers lost their 11th in a row at Maples Pavilion and couldn’t handle Stanford’s man-to-man defense.

Oregon State’s 47 points were a season-low, one fewer than the Beavers scored in their first loss to Stanford last month.

“Defensively, those guys were everywhere,” Oregon State guard Chris Stephens said. “They were in all of our passing lanes, they blocked our shots, they disrupted us in transition.”

Stanford could be getting a boost in time for the Pac-10 tournament, which begins on March 11. Senior forward Justin Davis had an MRI on his injured left knee and the results were encouraging.

“It’s healing. Two more weeks,” Davis, averaging 11.5 points and 6.9 rebounds, said before the game.

Washington State 83, Arizona State 70 -- Marcus Moore and Jeff Varem each scored 21 points at Tempe, Ariz., as Washington State kept its Pac-10 tournament hopes alive.

Thomas Kelati had 14 points for the Cougars (12-13, 6-9), who maintained their hold on eighth place in the league standings -- the cutoff point to qualify for the conference tournament.

Arizona State (10-15, 4-12) remained in the Pac-10 cellar despite Ike Diogu’s 28 points.

The Sun Devils closed to 62-58 with 6:10 left before the Cougars’ Marcus Moore scored on a bank shot and a reverse layup.

Varem later added seven consecutive points, including a three-point play, that gave the Cougars a 73-63 lead with 3:23 remaining.

Arizona State had a 41-37 halftime lead behind Diogu’s 24 points. He closed the half with 21 points.

Washington State trailed, 47-41, with 15:50 to play before Moore and Varem keyed the comeback.

California 85, Oregon 81 -- Richard Midgley and Leon Powe combined for 42 points as the Golden Bears won in overtime at Berkeley.

Midgley had 22 points and Powe 20 as California (12-12, 8-7) moved into fourth place in the conference ahead of Oregon (12-10, 7-8).

Luke Jackson had 18 points for the Ducks.