By Daniel Dullum

Sports Radio Service

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Stanford jumped on Arizona State early and never let up as the Cardinal upended the No. 3-seed Sun Devils 79-58 in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.

The win doesn’t guarantee that Stanford will be selected to the NCAA tournament field, but was a huge step in that direction. It was the Cardinal’s second win over Arizona State in three meetings this season.

The Cardinal built a 10-point lead early –helped by ASU missing its first seven shots – eventually holding a 30-27 halftime advantage. Stanford meets No. 2-seed UCLA in Friday’s semifinals.

Stanford (21-11) hit six of its first eight shots to open the second half while holding the Sun Devils without a field goal for over 4 minutes. A 3-pointer by John Gage stretched the Cardinal’s lead to 45-34.

ASU (21-11), which got off to a sluggish start, tried to battled back with a couple of second-half runs, but the Cardinal responded by hitting 17 of 24 floor shots to stretch its lead.

Chasson Randle led the Cardinal with 21 points, followed by Dwight Powell with 15 as Stanford shot 54 percent from the floor. John Huestis pulled down seven of the Cardinal’s 30 boards.

Jonathan Gilling scored 13 points to lead the Sun Devils in their most lopsided loss of the season. Bo Barnes added 12 points, and point guard Jahii Carson was held to 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting.