Neither 10 missed foul shots, 17 turnovers nor an Anthony Goods ankle injury were enough to halt No. 14 Stanford, who came away with a 67-65 overtime victory at No. 9 Washington State on Saturday.

The Cardinal did not have the victory sealed until Cougar guard Taylor Rochestie missed a lay-up, bothered by the outstretched arms of Brook Lopez. Two players on each team fouled out in an emotional match-up that went right down to the wire.

“You sit there, watch both teams hustling after each rebound, getting physical, guys hitting the floor – it was a great game,” said Stanford head coach Trent Johnson.

Junior forward Lawrence Hill – playing perhaps his best game of the season - led the offensive charge with 18 points, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Hill passed well early and played excellent defense on guard Kyle Weaver in the second half.

“[Hill] shot the ball with confidence. He got good shots, open looks, and didn’t hesitate,” Johnson said. However, the head coach downplayed the game’s significance as a potential breakout performance for Hill. “Like I’ve been saying all year, just because he wasn’t shooting well doesn’t mean he wasn’t playing well.”

Hill, always the modest player, passed the credit along to his teammates. “Today was a boost for my confidence - this year’s been a step back from the last,” he said. “But it was mostly listening to my teammates. Mitch [Johnson] and Fred [Washington] help me out, telling me when to go the basket. I tend to be pretty passive, so that’s important.”

Brook Lopez echoed Hill’s point. “My teammates did a great job,” the sophomore big man said. “Fred especially picked us up.” Lopez struggled from the field, shooting 4-16, but managed 18 points on 10-12 free-throw shooting. He also pulled down 7 rebounds and altered the Cougars’ offensive attack with 5 blocks.

Senior guards Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low led the way for the Cougars. Weaver shot 15-19 from the foul line en route to a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double before fouling out. Low scored 19 for Washington State, including 7 points in a one-minute stretch to give the Cougars a 50-44 lead with 7:22 remaining. Once Stanford slid Fred Washington Weaver to Low on defense and switched Lawrence Hill onto Weaver, however, the Cardinal shut the two down and climbed right back into the game.

Washington State opened the second half with a 26-21 lead and quickly stretched their advantage to 9 on a Robbie Cowgill dunk with 18:38 remaining. The Cougars also led by 9 after a Kyle Weaver layup with 13 minutes left, but Stanford battled back each time to keep the deficit to single digits.

Stanford took their first lead since the game’s opening seconds when they went ahead 56-54 on two Brook Lopez foul shots with 59 seconds left. In the remaining minute of regulation, the teams combined to shoot 2-8 from the foul line. Robbie Cowgill and Mitch Johnson both missed two key foul shots with the opportunity to gain some ground, and Weaver missed his second free throw with 9 seconds left and the score tied at 56. Brook Lopez’s off-balance shot and Taj Finger’s attempted putback both fell just short in Stanford’s final possession to send the game to overtime.

Stanford took an early overtime lead when Lopez passed out of a double team to find Finger on a clean cut into the lane for a layup. Finger then fouled out on a questionable call, but Robin Lopez re-entered the game in his place and quickly contributed. His running jumper in the lane with 12 seconds remaining gave him 4 points in the final period and put Stanford ahead by 3. After Rochestie’s miss, Washington leapt in the air in celebration.

Despite a game fraught with emotion and 45 total foul calls, the team never lost its cool.

“I told [the team] to keep their composure and poise – the only guy who can lose his composure is me,” said Johnson. Even with that admission, the coach was unfazed by the 17 turnovers. “Taking care of the ball and executing against this [Washington State] team is hard. I’m not going to have a heart attack if Mitch or Fred is trying to make a play. [Kyle] Weaver’s the best defender in the conference.”

Stanford improved to 18-3 and 7-2 in conference, solidifying its second-place standing in the Pac-10 – a conference considered by many to be the best in the nation - by two whole games. The team sits one game behind No. 5 UCLA midway through the conference race.

Stanford will look to continue its five-game winning streak this coming week when it faces the Oregon schools at home.