Santa Clara came out in gold uniforms Wednesday night,

Stanford rolls past Santa Clara

Santa Clara came out in gold uniforms Wednesday night, but Stanford did the Broncos one better. It came out with Brook Lopez.

Academically ineligible for the first nine games, Lopez came off the bench and powered Stanford to a 74-48 victory at Maples Pavilion in his season debut.

The sophomore forward scored a game-high 20 points in only 19 minutes as the Cardinal took control early and was never challenged. At halftime, its lead was 12. With 12 minutes left, it was 31.

"At times, it was very ugly, very physical, but we slugged it out each possession," Stanford Coach Trent Johnson said.

Mostly because of Lopez, the anticipated matchup of massive frontlines was a one-sided affair. Lopez and his brother, Robin, were too quick and too long for Santa Clara's 295-pound center, John Bryant.

Bryant saw several of his shots blocked and had a hand in his face at every turn. He was 1 of 8 in the first half - all his shots were from the lane, many from a foot away - and scored most of his 17 points once the game was out of reach.

"Those guys," SCU Coach Kerry Keating said of the Lopez twins, "have an effect on the game even if you're 6-10 and 300 pounds."

The Broncos (7-4), who wore gold uniforms for what is believed to be the first time in school history, shot 22.7 percent from the field in the first half and and were outrebounded 40-23 for the game - a surprising margin given SCU's size and physical style.