Stanford got its momentum back against the team that took it away.
Matt Lottich had 20 points, six rebounds and five assists, and second-ranked Stanford defeated Washington 77-66 Saturday to win its first Pac-10 tournament title and a berth to the NCAA tournament for the 10th consecutive season.
"You got to love Matt Lottich," Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said. "He's got so much pride in himself and so much competitiveness. He made some huge shots, as always."
The Cardinal (29-1) are virtually assured of a top seed in the West Region when the pairings are announced Sunday, along with a trip to Seattle for their first game.
"You take a great deal of pride if we should happen to go into the NCAA tournament as a No. 1 seed," Montgomery said. "It also means zippo starting next week."
The Cardinal donned white caps proclaiming them champions while fans chanted "six more wins" -- the number Stanford needs to win the national championship.
"We wanted to win it to prove we're the best team in the Pac-10," Lottich said.
A week ago, Washington spoiled Stanford's bid for a perfect season with a 75-62 victory in Seattle. The loss knocked the Cardinal from the No. 1 ranking, which they're likely to regain after previously unbeaten Saint Joseph's lost to Xavier by 20 points in the Atlantic-10 quarterfinals.
"We wanted to avenge our only loss of the season," said Josh Childress, the Pac-10 player of the year and tourney MVP. "I was fired up. I'm definitely glad we got to play them again."
The second-seeded Huskies (19-11) desperately wanted to win their first-ever conference tourney title to get into the NCAA tournament without contention. Now, their fate lies in the selection committee's hands. But their chances appear good since they've won 14 of their last 17 games.
Stanford's size advantage inside, along with Lottich's perimeter shooting wore down the Huskies. The Cardinal controlled the boards 42-33 and held a 48-26 scoring edge in the paint.
"They don't make too many mistakes," Romar said. "In the second half, they really did a great job defending us. We hung around and hung around and just didn't have enough to get over the hump."
Childress added 14 points and nine rebounds. Justin Davis had 13 points and Kirchofer had 11 points and eight rebounds.
Big east
Ben Gordon had a game-winning shot, a tournament record, an MVP trophy and a smile that could be on his face for days.
"I don't have a lot of words to explain it. I'm just happy we won, and to get the MVP, this is the best moment of my life," Gordon said after his jumper in the lane with 30 seconds left lifted No. 9 Connecticut to a 61-58 victory over No. 6 Pittsburgh on Saturday night in the Big East championship game.
It was the third big game in as many nights for the junior guard who broke Allen Iverson's record for points in a tournament as the Huskies won their record-tying sixth Big East title.
Gordon was the star for the Huskies (27-6) in the first two games when center Emeka Okafor was out with back spasms. He struggled with his shooting in the championship game but it was his jumper in the lane with 30 seconds left that gave Connecticut a 59-58 lead and then he added two free throws with 0.5 seconds to play to cap the win.
He had 29 points in each of the first two games and set a tournament record for points with 81, two more than Iverson had for Georgetown in 1996.
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