Box Score

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

STANFORD, Calif. - Matt Lottich scored 15 points and No. 3 Stanford stayed unbeaten with a 68-61 victory over California on Saturday night in the first meeting of the season between the rivals.

Justin Davis added 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals in Stanford's 11th straight win against Cal at Maples Pavilion, where a sellout crowd of 7,391 watched the Cardinal elevate their game in an up-tempo second half.

Stanford jumped into the passing lanes, hit the floor for loose balls, went hard to the boards and pressured Cal's talented perimeter shooters before the Golden Bears made a late surge.

Richard Midgley led the comeback attempt for Cal (6-8, 2-3 Pac-10), scoring all 19 of his points in the second half. Midgley's 3-pointer with 3:30 left pulled the Bears within 57-52. He had another from long range in the final minute and also a three-point play before fouling out with 17 seconds left. Amit Tamir added 15 points.

Stanford (14-0, 5-0), the only undefeated team in the top five, has won 12 of the last 14 meetings between the schools.

After No. 1 Connecticut's loss at ninth-ranked North Carolina on Saturday, the Cardinal will probably move up to No. 2 in the next poll behind Duke. And they also took over sole possession of first place in the Pac-10 after UCLA lost for the first time in conference play to No. 7 Arizona on Saturday.

The rowdy Stanford student section began chanting disparaging things more than 45 minutes before tipoff - and many waited up to six hours to get prime seats. Then they began barraging Bears freshman star Leon Powe with insults, but he just smiled and kept shooting during warm ups.

Powe, who often has faced double-teams this season, had 12 points and nine rebounds. Rob Little made an impressive one-handed dunk over Powe early in the second half. Little had another dunk in transition moments later for a 38-28 Stanford lead that forced Cal to call timeout with 15:51 remaining.

Davis' dunk with 12:25 left capped a 13-3 run as the Cardinal made it 46-31.

Cal freshman Marquise Kately - one of three freshmen in the Bears' starting lineup - had scored in double figures in his last three games, but was held to seven.

The Bears have been limiting teams to 62 points per game, their best defense since they held teams to 61.8 points in 1984-85 when there wasn't a 35-second shot clock.

The Cardinal looked sluggish early, starting the game 6-of-16 to Cal's 4-for-16. The teams combined for nine quick turnovers. Stanford used an 15-5 run late in the half to take a 24-17 halftime lead - the Cardinal's second-lowest halftime total behind the 22 points they had in the first half in a win at Rice on Nov. 30. Cal shot 31.6 percent in the first half and committed 10 turnovers.

Stanford issued credentials to 79 members of the media, the second-most ever for a game at Maples Pavilion - behind only the Cardinal's matchup against Connecticut on Feb. 6, 1999.