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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:51 p.m., Friday, March 28, 2008

Texas pounds Stanford, 82-62, reaches regional final

By JAIME ARON
AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON — Stanford's big guys were no match for the small, medium and jumbo sizes of the Texas Longhorns.

Little D.J. Augustin set the tempo, 299-pound Dexter Pittman pounded and pestered Brook Lopez and the rest of the Longhorns chipped in as Texas defeated Stanford 82-62 tonight in an NCAA South Regional semifinal.

The victory sends the Longhorns into Sunday's regional final against the winner of the Michigan State-Memphis game.

Whoever Texas next faces can expect as much burnt orange — if not more — in the stands when the Longhorns get a chance to reach the Final Four for the first time since 2003.

Mixing their inside and outside games, the Longhorns (31-6) took control early. Still, they were up only 52-51 after Lopez did everything but dribble the ball up the court to rally the Cardinal (28-8).

Texas answered with a 20-3 run, punctuated by several plays that sent the heavily pro-Longhorns fans to their feet. Most were by Augustin, but Pittman also contributed by using his girth to throw Lopez off stride.

Lopez was so frustrated that on one play he was trying to signal officials to call three seconds on the humongous guy while also trying to play defense.