CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Andre Iguodala attempts to block a shot by Stanford's Rob Little during the first half of Arizona's 80-77 loss to Stanford at Maples Pavilion Saturday afternoon.

STANFORD 80 ð UA 77

Cardinal stay unbeaten in thriller, send Cats home winless on swing

STANFORD, Calif. - Twice this weekend, the Wildcats tried to come back after falling down big, early.

But twice, their comeback efforts came up short.

And twice the Arizona players had to witness the home-court fans rush the court after the final buzzer, celebrating the fall of one of college basketball's most dominant programs.

The No. 12 Arizona men's basketball team followed Thursday's four-point loss to California at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley with a heart-breaking encore - a buzzer-beater by a Stanford third-stringer on Saturday.

The No. 2 Cardinal (20-0, 11-0 Pacific 10 Conference) battled back and forth with the Wildcats (14-6, 6-5) for most of the second half, but in the end, it was just three-tenths of a second that mattered. That was the time left on the game clock when Stanford forward Nick Robinson let go of his off-balance, game-winning 3-pointer, vaulting the Cardinal to a 80-77 victory.

Arizona fell behind by as many as 12 on national television and in front of a Maples Pavilion sellout crowd that included professional golfer and Stanford alumnus Tiger Woods, but battled back to take a four-point lead into the game's final minute, thanks in part to a 19-6 run.

We just really messed it up. We had a four-point lead. ö Lute Olson, UA men's basketball head coach

A made free throw and a 3-pointer from the corner by Stanford swingman Josh Childress quickly tied the game, giving Arizona the ball with 23 seconds to go.

"We wanted to get the last shot inside of four seconds, like we had worked on," head coach Lute Olson said. "We were going to put the ball in Stoudamire's hands with a pick, even if it was a zone situation."

Robinson and Cardinal shooting guard Matt Lottich closed in on Salim Stoudamire with less than 10 seconds to go, forcing the ball loose to set up the winning basket.

"I'm not sure if he popped it out or if I did, but the ball was loose and I grabbed it," said Robinson, who started in place of injured forwards Justin Davis and Matt Haryasz. "I just looked at the clock.

"When I let it go, it felt good."

Stanford's 20th straight win tied a team record to start the season, while Arizona has lost five of eight games for the first time since Olson's first season at Arizona.

The Cardinal also remains just one of just two unbeaten teams in Division I basketball, along with St. Joseph's, which also won its 20th straight Saturday by defeating La Salle.

Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery said that as big as the win was, he isn't surprised by how well his team is playing at this point in the year.

"It was a great game; it was on television; a lot of people got a chance to see it," he said. "All of that is good stuff. But for us, it's just another step in what is turning out to be a pretty doggone good season."

The Wildcats, who came into the weekend set looking to make a dent in Stanford's substantial Pac-10 lead, instead dropped into a tie for fourth in the Pac-10, just one game above .500 with seven conference games remaining.

"We just really messed it up," said head coach Lute Olson after the loss to Stanford. "We had a four-point lead."

Olson said in order to rebound at home against Southern California and UCLA this week, the Wildcats need to come out with more energy early on.

"We had a chance to win both and we didn't," he said, referring to Arizona's four-point loss to California Thursday night and the Stanford loss. "You just have to play every possession like it's your last one, and we did not do that early and it caught up with us."