Strong ball security helps Stanford take down Utah

Brandon Angel scored 16 points and collected 12 rebounds to lead No. 10 seed Stanford to a 73-62 victory over No. 7 seed Utah on Wednesday in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

Maxime Raynaud chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds for the Cardinal. Harrison Ingram scored 15 points and Spencer Jones added 12.

Stanford (14-18) will face second-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The Cardinal were relentless in attacking the basket and totaled 38 points in the paint. Stanford had 17 assists on 26 made baskets while committing only four turnovers.

Branden Carlson scored 27 points and collected 10 rebounds to lead Utah. Gabe Madsen added 13 points and Lazar Stefanovic chipped in 10 for the Utes.

Utah (17-15) suffered its sixth straight loss. The Utes committed 12 turnovers and shot just 37.9 percent from the field.

Stanford used a 14-2 run to take control early in the first half. Angel and Raynaud made back-to-back baskets to ignite the run that gave the Cardinal an 18-7 lead. Utah got off to a sluggish start on offense, missing eight of its first 10 shots.

Madsen finally got the Utes going with back-to-back baskets. His third basket of the game, a 3-pointer, trimmed Stanford's lead to 22-20. Utah could not fully erase the deficit before the Cardinal heated up a second time.

Jones nailed a 3-pointer as part of a personal 7-0 run that extended Stanford's lead to 29-20.

The Cardinal stayed a step ahead, in part, by taking care of the ball. Stanford committed just one turnover before halftime and went into the break up 34-27.

Utah did not threaten the Cardinal's lead after halftime. Stanford led by double digits much of the way, building its largest lead at 63-48 when Michael O'Connell made a layup to cap a flurry of five consecutive baskets for the Cardinal.