STANFORD, Calif. Kevin Williams Jersey Seattle Seahawks . -- For nearly 9 minutes, Arizona made defensive stop after stop. In that critical sequence, the top-ranked Wildcats held Stanford scoreless and helped preserve their perfect start to the season. This confident, unbeaten group believes it should be doing that all game long. For Arizona, three straight defensive stops is called a "kill." Nick Johnson kept Arizonas unblemished record going for another game, hitting a go-ahead 3-pointer with 51 seconds remaining and two free throws with 5.8 seconds left as Arizona survived for a 60-57 victory Wednesday night for its school-record 21st straight win. "Were an outstanding defensive team. It isnt as if we changed any scheme, we just buckled down and had a lot of players playing very hard, and our ability to hold them to what we did is a big reason we won. Our defence won the game tonight," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "No question we have to execute better on offence and we have to be more confident at the line." After Johnson hit a jumper in the middle of the key with 2:36 remaining to make it 55-53, Dwight Powell answered on a baseline drive with 1:21 to go before Johnson delivered once more. Johnson finished with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists and T.J. McConnell added 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Arizona (21-0, 8-0 Pac-12), off to the programs best start in conference play in more than a decade. Arizona is one of three unbeaten teams left in Division I, joining No. 2 Syracuse, which also won Wednesday night. Fourth-ranked Wichita State hasnt lost either. Powell and Josh Huestis each scored 13 points for Stanford (13-7, 4-4), which outshot Arizona 38 per cent to 36 per cent. "For 38 minutes, I thought we were right there," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "Credit Arizona for making the plays they had to make at the end. Nick Johnson stepping up, whether at the foul line or whether it was a 3-point bucket late. Ive watched a lot of tape of them, hes done it all year." Johnson missed a free throw with 28 seconds left and Stanford called timeout. Huestis missed a 3 from the left wing and Aaron Gordon secured the rebound, but he also missed a free throw giving the Cardinal one final shot. Chasson Randle missed a long 3 just before the final buzzer for Stanford. After a 3-pointer by Huestis with 10:03 remaining, Stanford didnt score again until Powells layin at 1:21 -- and Powell missed two free throws at 4:36 that would have put his team ahead. "Thats what we should have done the whole game. We came out a little lackadaisical and after that we turned it up when the sense of urgency turned up, and after that we kind of locked down," Gordon said. "It was good to come on the road and get a win, regardless of whether we won by 20 or we won by three like we did." Arizona, ranked No. 1 for a school-record eighth consecutive week, overcame a slow start on the way to an eighth straight win against Stanford. The Cardinal beat two Top 25 teams already with victories at then-No. 10 Connecticut and at then-No. 17 Oregon earlier this month. But not this time given their struggles in the waning moments at Maples Pavilion, which hosted a No. 1 mens team for the first time since losing 72-69 to Arizona on March 1, 2003. The Wildcats had a large contingent of fans in the crowd cheering "U of A! U of A!" Anthony Brown beat the halftime buzzer with a basket to put Stanford ahead 31-30. Arizona had trailed at halftime several times already this season only to produce a big second half. Arizona is on such a roll the players expect to win, even when they might not be at their best in a hostile environment. "One of the things we need to do is play defence at a high level more consistently and I think that will help us out a lot," forward Brandon Ashley said. "When we were down, we werent thinking about being down. For any team to be competitive, at any level, you have to be confident in yourself." Stanfords last home win against a No. 1 team came against Arizona, 82-74, on Feb. 4, 1988. Max Unger . The Olympic hockey rookies will face top-seeded and 2006 Olympic champion Sweden on Wednesday in the quarterfinals. Kopitar, who plays for the Los Angeles Kings, is the only NHL player on the Slovenia squad. His father, Matjaz, is the national teams coach. Luke Willson Jersey Seattle Seahawks . David Griffin was promoted from interim GM on Monday by owner Dan Gilbert. He says Irving was not consulted on Browns future and any insinuation that he pushed to have him fired is "patently false.ANAHEIM, Calif. - Between the 20-year-old goalie with 39 saves and the 21-year-old forward with two goals, Teemu Selanne wasnt sure which youngster deserved the most credit for propelling the Anaheim Ducks veterans to the brink of the Western Conference finals. Selanne is only certain the Ducks youth movement is happening at an ideal time for their Stanley Cup hopes. John Gibson was outstanding in his second career playoff start, and Devante Smith-Pelly scored two goals 1:23 apart in the second period of the Ducks 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in Game 5 on Monday night, putting Anaheim up 3-2 in the second-round series. Selanne is older than Gibson and Smith-Pelly combined, but the Finnish Flash knows the kids are why the Ducks are in position to finish off their Southern California rivals in Game 6 on Wednesday after a raucous meeting at Honda Center. "They answered the bell again," said Selanne, who had a sublime assist on Smith-Pellys first goal. "Devo has all the tools. Gibby is rock-solid. Theyre pretty special players, and they both took care of it for us tonight. You need special contributions from everybody to do what were trying to do." Nick Bonino and Jakob Silfverberg also scored for the Ducks, who jumped out to a three-goal lead in the second period and hung on behind their rookie goalie, earning the first home victory by either team in the series. Smith-Pelly is the Ducks unlikely leader with five post-season goals after a superbly energetic effort in Game 5. He has three goals in the past two games, capitalizing on his promotion to Anaheims top line with captain Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry after scoring just two goals in his 19 regular-season appearances for the Ducks. "Were just having a lot of fun," Smith-Pelly said. "This is what you dream about, playing in the playoffs." The Ducks also got another standout game from Gibson, who shut out the Kings in Game 4 to even the series in his Anaheim playoff debut. "I think I got tested more," Gibson said. "Its fun. Im just trying to take it all in and win some hockey games." Gibsons fifth career NHL appearance was tougher than the first four — but his teammates also helped out much more this time, scoring four regulation goals against the Kings for the first time in the rivals 10 total meetings this season. Marian Gaborik scored his NHL-best seventh and eighth goals of the post-season for the Kings, including a redirection with 5:48 left to trim Anaheims lead to one goal. Los Angeless pressed throughout the final minutes to finish with a playoff-high 42 shots, outshooting the Ducks 14-2 in the third period, but couldnt beat Gibson for the equalizer. Richard Sherman Jerseys. . "We were talking about how we have to get to Gibson, and if we do, things are happening," Gaborik said. "If we get shots through and try to go to the net, rebounds are there, and we got some chances. We have to keep doing that and we have to clean a lot of stuff up. Were coming home. Were confident we can win and come back here." Trevor Lewis also scored and Jonathan Quick stopped 20 shots for the Kings, who will face their fifth elimination game of the post-season at Staples Center on Wednesday. Theyre on their second three-game skid of the playoffs — bookending a six-game winning streak. The road team had won every game in the first series between these rivals separated by 30 miles of freeway, but the Ducks snapped the Kings four-game road playoff winning streak dating to their 0-3 comeback in the first round against San Jose. "Tonight isnt about the third (period), its about the second," Kings captain Dustin Brown said. "We made too many easy mistakes, and we had to try to come back the way we did. Its too hard." After Bonino and Lewis traded goals in the first period, Anaheim took the lead for good 1:11 into the second when Mathieu Perreaults shot off Selannes pass glanced off Smith-Pellys toe in the crease. "I didnt really do anything," Smith-Pelly said with a grin. Smith-Pelly then broke in alone on Quick 83 seconds later when Getzlaf intercepted Martinezs pass in the neutral zone, and Silfverberg put the Ducks up 4-1 midway through the period. The Kings gathered themselves and finally capitalized on a double-minor by Smith-Pelly when Gaborik scored in front, getting his fourth goal in the series three games in Anaheim. After several minutes of fruitless work for the Kings, Brown shovelled a backhand at the net and Gaborik redirected it home. NOTES: Perreault returned to Anaheims lineup after missing Game 4 with an injury, and rookie Rickard Rakell was scratched. Ducks F Matt Beleskey missed his second straight game after getting hurt in Game 3. ... F Jordan Nolan replaced Kyle Clifford in the Kings lineup. Nolan hadnt played since Game 3 of the first round against San Jose, sitting out eight straight games. ... The Kings are still without two key veteran defencemen. Willie Mitchell missed his sixth straight game, and Robyn Regehr sat out his fourth. cheap jerseys cheap jerseys from china ' ' '
