LOS ANGELES -- As one would expect from a conference postseason tournament, Thursday night’s quarterfinal between two-seed Stanford and seven-seed Arizona revealed little that was new.

For 30 minutes the competitiveness of the Pac-10 was on full display. Neither team could gain an edge as both squads traded baskets and effectively responded to runs.

But in the game’s final 10, Stanford won out with its bread and butter, asserting itself on the boards and in the post. Finishing with a 50-27 rebounding advantage, Stanford held off the Wildcats 75-64 to advance to a semifinal round match up against three-seed Washington State tonight.

Stanford (25-6) took charge in the final quarter of the game by sticking to its game plan, which, according to junior guard Mitch Johnson, was, “Pound it down low, hitting the boards, getting a stop.

“We did a great job of making it tough,” said Johnson, whose well-rounded performance finished with 11 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Stanford made it more than tough down the stretch for Arizona (19-14), breaking the game open with a 20-5 run. The Cardinal forced the Wildcats into committing turnovers and missed shots, then following up on the other end by converting offensive rebounds (21 total) into 20 second-chance points.

“If I miss a shot, I know we got two of our big guys crashing the boards for us,” said sophomore big man Brook Lopez, who led Stanford with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Thursday’s loss left Arizona without a win to help make its case to the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Freshman guard Jerryd Bayless paced the Wildcats with 18 points, while sophomore swingman Chase Budinger added eight rebounds and 13 points—only one of which came after half.

“That was a very good team we beat,” Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. “Quite frankly that’s a team that’s definitely going to the Tournament in my mind.”

For Stanford, the win was especially sweet on the heels of last weekend’s road sweep to UCLA and USC, the first losing streak Stanford suffered all season. In the USC game in particular, the Cardinal was uncharacteristically outrebounded 43-40.

“We definitely wanted to get that taste back in our mouth,” Mitch Johnson said. “We had two losses to two very good teams. We definitely wanted to get some winning ways back before the NCAA tournament.”

The first half was effectively a stalemate. Arizona big man Jordan Hill was active early, scoring his team’s first eight points during the opening five minutes of the game as the Wildcats took an 8-4 lead.

The teams traded baskets for much of the rest of the period, until a Taj Finger put-back gave Stanford a 21-19 lead with 6:07 left. Budinger and Bayless both hit 3-pointers for the Wildcats, but on both occasions Mitch Johnson responded with a longball of his own. Nic Wise missed a wide-open layup, but converted a 3-point play with an offensive rebound to give Arizona a 31-35 lead.

Brook Lopez, who finished the period with a team-high 10 points, hit a difficult jumper over a double team, and Lawrence Hill got a fast-break layup after an Arizona turnover to tie the game going into halftime, 35-35.

The teams went tit-for-tat again to start the second half, but a 12-2 Stanford run proved to be the difference down the stretch. After Jerryd Bayless hit two free throws to tie the game at 49 with 12 minutes left, a Lawrence Hill put-back, Brook Lopez free throws and a Robin Lopez driving hook gave Stanford a 55-49 advantage with 10 minutes left.

“We got back to what got us successful, which was rebounding,” said senior forward Fred Washington, who had one of his best games of the season with 11 points and eight rebounds. “We know what we're capable of. We know there are people other than the twins, we've got people who can rebound.”

With six minutes left, the Cardinal ran the same play to both Lopez twins down low on successive possessions, resulting in a layup from each and a 67-54 Cardinal advantage.

“I don’t think we have any magic tricks or secret weapons,” Mitch Johnson said. “Our game plan was to pound the boards and get it to the guys down low. That’s the way it went down tonight.”

Washington got an offensive rebound on Stanford’s next possession following an Arizona miss. He put the ball back in, giving Sanford a 69-54 advantage.

“Fred’s been struggling, been banged up a little,” Trent Johnson said. “That was the old Freddy Washington.”

Tonight, Stanford faces a Washington State team fresh off a 75-70 win over Oregon Thursday evening. Derrick Low scored 18 points for the Cougars, who led by as much as 20 before withstanding a late push by the Ducks.

“I think we match up well with them, and they match up well with us,” Johnson said about Washington State. “It shouldn’t be any different. It should be a real close basketball game, and that’s pretty much it.”