Stanford, Cal, UCLA advance | Pac-10 Tournament

LOS ANGELES — Arizona State came up with a clunker just when it needed a win.

Losing 70-61 to Stanford in the Pac-10 Conference tournament quarterfinals Thursday night may have cost the Sun Devils a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Regular-season champion California is expected to get in, and Arizona State seemed to have earned its way in by finishing second.

But then came Stanford.

Jeremy Green scored 18 points and Landry Fields added 17 for the seventh-seeded Cardinal, which dominated against a team that swept it in the regular season.

Now, the Sun Devils have to hope the NCAA tournament committee is feeling generous toward the Pac-10 in what has been a down year for the conference, which doesn't have any teams in the AP Top 25.

"I don't know how anybody knows," Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. "Obviously, the more you win, the better your chances get. We'll have to hope for the best."

Stanford (14-17) advanced to Friday's semifinals against No. 3 Washington, which beat sixth-seeded Oregon State 59-52.

Arizona State (22-10) led just once — by one point early in the second half. Rihards Kuksiks scored 15 points, all in the first half, before he fouled out in the closing seconds.

"We didn't play our best and Stanford deserves a great deal of credit for that," Sendek said. "They really did a good job defensively. It seemed like everything came hard for us."

Arizona State had won eight of 10 coming into its first-ever meeting with Stanford in the tournament.

California 90,

Oregon 74

After making a clever move and a slick layup for his third basket in the first 100 seconds, Jerome Randle says he just had a feeling he could hit every shot he took in California's Pac-10 tournament opener. Oregon coach Ernie Kent was less forthcoming after possibly his final game with the Ducks.

Randle scored 22 points without missing a shot in the first half, and the top-seeded Golden Bears easily advanced to the semifinals with a victory.

Patrick Christopher had 21 points and five assists for the Bears (22-9), who followed up their first outright conference title in a half-century by sending home the weary Ducks (16-16) with a remarkable half from Randle. "I just have these moments sometimes," Randle said.

Cal, which has won five straight and eight of nine, will face UCLA on Friday.

The future isn't nearly as clear for Kent, who reportedly has already been told he won't return next season to Oregon, where he became the winningest coach in school history with 235 victories over 13 years.

"I'm proud of our guys for coming in and battling while having so much other noise in their heads," Kent said while declining to talk specifically about the rumors of his imminent departure.

UCLA 75, Arizona 69

Reeves Nelson returned after missing four games, scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in UCLA's victory over the Wildcats, a Pac-10 tournament quarterfinal between two powerhouses that once ruled the league but have struggled this season.

The loss virtually ended Arizona's nation-best streak of 25 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, though with a winning record (16-15), the Wildcats could land in the NIT.

"Unfortunately, it's not the NCAA tournament, but we're going to take what we can get," junior Jamelle Horne said.

Arizona's NCAA tourney streak began in 1985 under Lute Olson, and ended with first-year coach Sean Miller, who noted he was 16 and "just learning how to drive" when the run began.