No. 19 Stanford 76, St. Mary's 58

Sunday December 15, 2002

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) Julius Barnes and the Stanford Cardinal were getting tired of beating up on each other in practice.

Barnes scored 17 points on 7-of-13 shooting as No. 19 Stanford beat St. Mary's of California 76-58 Saturday night.

Josh Childress added 16 points for the Cardinal (5-1), playing for the first time since losing to North Carolina in the championship game of the Preseason NIT 16 days ago.

``We're just happy to be back on the court playing real games,'' Barnes said. ``We were flat in this game, but you're not going to see us flat again. We'll be a lot better the next time.''

Justin Davis added 12 points and 10 rebounds for Stanford, which won its 18th straight nonconference home game, and has won 42 of 43 home games against nonconference foes.

``We made a lot of mistakes on both ends of the court but we did some good things too,'' said Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, two wins shy of 500 for his career. ``We were a little bit off sync but we were well rested.''

Frederic Adjiwanou scored 16 for the Gaels (4-3), whose two-game winning streak was stopped. Tyler Herr added 13 points and Daniel Kickert went 5-for-5 from the line and extended his consecutive free throw streak to 21 in an 11-point performance.

St. Mary's, playing Stanford for the first time in 14 years, is looking for its first winning season since its 1996-97 team went 23-8 and reached the NCAA tournament. The Gaels are Stanford's 11th oldest rivalry, dating to 1913. The Cardinal lead the series 40-15.

``They're a better team than most people give them credit for,'' said Montgomery. ``They attacked our zone well and they run good stuff.''

Point guard Chris Hernandez, sidelined since breaking a bone in his left foot in October, made his first appearance of the season for Stanford.

``We really need him because whenever he comes in he changes the dynamics of the game for us,'' said Montgomery. ``He's a pure point guard. When we have our best passer in there it affects our entire offense in a good way.''

Hernandez said he can still feel the pain.

``It hurts every day and I got beat pretty badly a couple of times but I should be full speed by the Pac-10 season,'' said Hernandez.

The Gaels shot just 2-for-19 from 3-point range, including 1-for-10 in the first half. St. Mary's missed 13 consecutive 3-point attempts before Herr connected with five minutes left.

``We thought we were getting some good looks, especially in the first half,'' St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett said. ``Then we seemed to get a hand in our face and it was usually Davis or Childress, who both have long, big arms.''

St. Mary's closed to 45-42 on a dunk by Adjiwanou with 13:37 left. Stanford countered with a 14-3 run, punctuated by a slam by Barnes, and the Gaels never got closer than seven.

The Cardinal went on a 10-2 run midway through the first half to open an 11-point lead. Barnes scoring five points in 25 seconds in the surge and Stanford built a 37-31 lead by the break.

Stanford played its first game since forward Teyo Johnson announced his decision to make himself eligible for the NFL draft and withdrew from school. Three players have left the Cardinal program early, something that never happened before last year.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)