By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, March 2, 2014

No. 3-ranked Arizona sealed up the Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball regular season championship Sunday by defeating Stanford 79-66 at McKale Center in Tucson.

With the win, the Wildcats (27-2 overall, 14-2 Pac-12) finished off an undefeated home schedule. Arizona scored the first four points of the game and never trailed.

An inside basket by Dwight Powell cut Arizona’s early lead to 14-11, but that was as close as the Cardinal would get. Elliott Pitts drained a 3-pointer to ignite a 9-2 run that put the Wildcats up 23-17. From that point, Arizona never looked back.

Freshman Aaron Gordon scored 19 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds to lead Arizona, with help from T.J. McConnell (14 points), Gabe York (12 points), Nick Johnson (11 points) and Kaleb Tarczewski (10 points).

Josh Huestis led Stanford (18-10 overall, 9-7 Pac-12) with a career-high 22 points while snaring 12 boards. Anthony Brown and Chasson Randle followed with 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Cardinal, who trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half.

A 19-5 Stanford run, completed with a dunk by Huestis with 2:45 remaining, helped the final score look closer than the game actually was.

For Stanford, the loss leaves the Cardinal in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Pac-12 with Colorado and California going into the final weekend of the regular season. Stanford finishes at home this Wednesday against Colorado and this Saturday against Utah.

(catgegory Stanford Cardinal)

(TAGS: Stanford,Cardinal,men’s basketball,Arizona,Pac-12)