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EVENTS
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SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Jason Collins settled this mismatch in the first half. Collins scored 20 of his 25 points in the first half when top-seeded Stanford built a 21-point lead en route to a 89-60 rout of 16th-seeded North Carolina-Greensboro in a first-round NCAA Tournament West Region game at the Cox Arena. Stanford (29-2) won its seventh straight opening round tournament game under coach Mike Montgomery and will meet St. Joseph's on Saturday. The Cardinal have lost in the second round each of the last two years, falling to Gonzaga in 1999 and to North Carolina as a No. 1 seed in 2000. As expected, North Carolina-Greensboro (19-12) had difficulty matching up against the Collins twins -- the 6-11 Jason and the 6-10 Jarron. Jason inflicted enough damage on the Spartans in the first half alone. After racing to a 9-2 lead in the first seven minutes, the Cardinal appeared ready to blow the Spartans out of the building. But North Carolina-Greensboro showed some fight and pulled within 12-11 after Jay Joseph hit a pair of 3-pointers. Jason Collins then took over, converting four free throws, two layups and a dunk as Stanford responded with an 18-7 run to open a 30-18 lead. He reached the 20-point mark with a 3-pointer from the top of the key which bounced high off the back rim and swished through the net with 1:30 left in the half, increasing the advantage to 44-25. A 3-pointer by Michael McDonald gave Stanford its biggest lead of the half at 48-25 with 42 seconds remaining. Joseph scored all 12 of his points in the first half, converting 4-of-5 3-pointers. But his teammates were just 2-of-8 from behind the arc. Stanford coasted in the second half and rested most of its starters. The Cardinal led by as many as 31 points, the latest coming at 80-49 on a pair of free throws by Julius Barnes. Jason Collins hit 8-of-13 shots, 8-of-9 free throws and grabbed eight rebounds. Casey Jacobsen, Stanford's leading scorer at 18 points per game, had 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting for the Cardinal, who ranked second nationally this season in point differential with an average margin of 18.9 points. Jarron Collins played just 23 minutes and finished with eight points and six rebounds. David Schuck led N.C. Greensboro, the Southern Conference tournament champion, with 16 points, Ronnie Taylor had 15 and Courtney Eldridge added 13. But most of those came in the second half after the outcome was virtually decided. The Spartans made its only previous NCAA Tournament appearance in 1996, falling to Cincinnati, 66-61. |
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