ANAHEIM, Calif. — Cincinnati lived up to its tough image until Stanford's 7-foot twins started showing their strength.
Fired up after trailing at halftime, Jason Collins had 15 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots as Stanford defeated the Bearcats 78-65 Thursday night in the West Regional semifinals.
"I didn't want to lose," Jason said. "We came out in the second half knowing we had to make plays. You start to get going and your emotion just shows."
Jarron Collins added 14 points and seven rebounds to send top-seeded Stanford into Saturday's regional final against No. 3 seed Maryland, a 76-66 winner over 10th-seeded Georgetown at Anaheim Arena.
"We worked so hard for this. It's been a long way coming for us," said Stanford's Casey Jacobsen, who scored a career-high 27 points and hit two 3-pointers to tie the single-season school record of 82.
The Cardinal's 31st victory against two losses set a school record. They're one game away from their first trip to the Final Four since 1998.
"Thirty-one and two sounds pretty good to me," coach Mike Montgomery said.
The fifth-seeded Bearcats (25-10) knew they had to keep Stanford from controlling the boards, and they couldn't do it. The Cardinal had a 36-25 edge — 31-14 defensively — thanks to the Collins twins.
"I haven't seen two big men like that all year," said Kenny Satterfield, who led Cincinnati with 24 points. "They can win it all because they play so well together."
In the first half, however, Cincinnati had Stanford off balance.
Using their quickness, the Bearcats fearlessly drove inside for baskets against Stanford's big men to take a 38-34 halftime lead.
The Cardinal committed 12 of their 17 turnovers in the first half and saw Cincinnati close the half with a 21-10 run.
"Cincinnati was as advertised, very physical and a very good half-court defensive team. They disrupted us in the first half," Montgomery said.
Ryan Mendez hit a 3-pointer to start the second half for Stanford. Jacobsen and the Collins twins combined for Stanford's next 10 points and a 47-42 lead, but the Cardinal were not yet in control.
Cincinnati got four straight points from Leonard Stokes on a jumper and driving basket to cut its deficit to 47-46 with 13:32 remaining.
Just when the Bearcats were poised to regain the lead, they lost one of their tallest defenders, 6-foot-11 Donald Little, to his fourth foul and guard Steve Logan picked up his third. Logan finished with 11 points.
"Down the stretch, they threw it into their big boys and converted," Logan said. "That's what happens when you don't play defense."
Mendez had 16 points and became the 31st Stanford player to go over 1,000 in his career.
MARYLAND 76, GEORGETOWN 66: Georgetown featured Ruben Boumtje Boumtje, a 7-footer, and Lee Scruggs and Wesley Wilson, both 6-foot-11.
And just for bulk, there was freshman Mike Sweetney.
None of that mattered to Lonny Baxter, Maryland's man in the middle, who had his way with taller Georgetown in a 76-66 victory by the Terrapins Thursday moving them into the final eight of the NCAA tournament for the first time in 26 years.
"In our league (the Atlantic Coast Conference), I play against bigger guys all the time — Brendan Haywood, Kris Lang, Julius Peppers, Alvin Jones," said Baxter, like Sweetney a 6-foot-8, 260-pounder. "I wasn't worried about anything, I just came out and played my game."
And, Baxter might have added, he played it extremely well, dominating the inside with 26 points and 14 rebounds.
Terps coach Gary Williams, in his 23rd year of coaching top-level college basketball, finally guided a team to the final eight after failing in his six previous tries, including four in the past seven years at Maryland.