Stanford knocks off W. Kentucky

ST. LOUIS - Stanford had clear sailing, once it made it to the opening tipoff. <br> <br> Stanford, the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Regional, shrugged off a pregame technical for turning in the lineup card late, getting 19 points and 12 rebounds from Curtis Borchardt in an 84-68 victory over No. 9 Western Kentucky Thursday night. <br> <br> Casey Jacobsen added 17 points, six rebounds and four assists despite 4-for-12 shooting. <br> <br> Stanford (21-9) will play top-seeded Kansas in the second round on Saturday. Stanford is in the tournament for the eighth straight year and has won in the opening round each time. <br> <br> This time was more of a challenge because Stanford, which tied for second in the Pac-10, usually gets one of the top seeds. Sranford was a No. 1 the previous two seasons, a No. 2 in 1999 and No. 3 in 1998, but this season there&#39;s only one senior in the starting lineup. <br> <br> Western Kentucky (28-4) got the early jump when Patrick Sparks, who had 20 points and nine assists, made one of two free throws on the technical. But the last lead was 3-2 as the Hilltoppers&#39; 18-game winning streak came to an end with their first loss since Dec. 30 at South Alabama. <br> <br> Stanford withstood a second-half charge from Western Kentucky, which nearly recovered after shooting 23 percent in the first half and scoring only 22 points - only one point more than its season low. A lead that once was 16 points was whittled to one at 44-43 after Western Kentucky hit three straight 3-pointers to cap a 14-2 run with 11:49 to go. <br> <br> But the Cardinal quickly recovered with a 10-1 run - the last five points as reserve Josh Childress drove the baseline for a dunk and hit a 3-pointer in a 49-second span. <br> <br> Western Kentucky, which shot 47 percent during the regular season, finished at 35 percent. The field-goal percentage was the school&#39;s worst since a 32-percent showing in the loss at South Alabama. <br> <br> Borchardt outplayed Western Kentucky&#39;s Chris Marcus in a battle of 7-footers with his 15th double-double of the season, and also stuffed one of Marcus&#39; shots in the second half. The Stanford center was 7-for-11 from the field. <br> <br> Marcus drew two early fouls and was no factor in the first half, and finished with 10 points and two rebounds. He&#39;s averaging 16.4 points and 9.4 rebounds.

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