STANFORD, Calif. — Brook Lopez pounded his chest and screamed in celebration with each clutch play he made, getting the crowd roaring while fueling himself and his teammates in the process.

Lopez might have played his final college game at Maples Pavilion, and what a way to go out: practically single-handedly keeping Stanford in the Pac-10 title hunt.

Lopez scored 19 of his 25 points after halftime, pulled down six rebounds and helped the eighth-ranked Cardinal maintain their hopes of winning the conference with a hard-fought 60-53 victory over No. 22 Washington State yesterday.

Lopez, the 7-foot sophomore expected to enter the NBA draft and forego his final two seasons on The Farm, was 11 for 16 from the field and had four blocks. He dunked on a putback with 2:52 to play to give the Cardinal the lead for good and converted two free throws at 1:39.

"I just didn't want to let the seniors go out like that," Lopez said. "We really wanted to stay in the Pac-10 race, you know, the Pac-10 championship. I was just trying to go as hard as I could, take it possession by possession, score and get a stop."

Stanford's sixth win in seven games sets up a showdown with first-place and fourth-ranked UCLA in Westwood on Thursday night with the conference championship at stake.

Derrick Low, an 'Iolani alum from Honolulu, scored all 14 of his points in the first half, Aron Baynes added 10 points, five rebounds and two blocks before fouling out and Washington State blew it in the second half to lose for only the third time away from home. The Cougars (22-7, 10-7 Pac-10), who led by as many as 14 in the first half, didn't score over the final 3:16 and went without a basket after Taylor Rochestie scored at 6:50.

Robin Lopez added 11 points, four boards and two blocks and Anthony Goods scored 10 points for the Cardinal (24-4, 13-3) in their sixth straight win at home since a 76-67 loss to UCLA on Jan. 3. They squeaked by Washington, 82-79, on Thursday.

"From the 10-minute mark on we were as good as we've been all year," said Cardinal coach Trent Johnson, whose team hadn't rallied from 14 down all season. "We did everything right, and Brook and Robin led the way."

Taj Finger's 3-pointer with 4:03 to play tied the game at 51 and Stanford went ahead on Goods' free throw the next time down. The Cardinal, who went a school-record 16-1 at home this season, converted 18 of 25 free throws.

"Stanford's won a lot of close games this year late in the game because they don't beat themselves," Washington State coach Tony Bennett said. "You can't come into a place like this, play the No. 8 team in the country on their home court and expect to win if you don't play your best the entire 40 minutes. It was frustrating for us because we played such a great first half, but we couldn't hold them off."