The Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. - Julius Barnes is Stanford's only player with significant experience, so his teammates were happy he had the ball at the end of the game.

Barnes scored 14 points, including two free throws with 27 seconds left, and Stanford ran out the clock to upset No. 11 Xavier 63-62 in the quarterfinals of the Preseason NIT on Wednesday night.

The Cardinal advanced to the semifinals next Wednesday at New York's Madison Square Garden against the winner of Thursday night's second-round game between Eastern Illinois and No. 8 Florida.

"We practice free throws. We do these free throw games in practice where we try to make as many as we can," said Barnes, one of only two seniors on the team, and the only one who starts and plays consistently. "You just shut out everything and you just focus."

Stanford (2-0) played inspired for its rowdy home crowd, going hard to the boards and pushing the tempo, but became impatient in the second half and began to force things offensively before settling down.

"I'm not sure this is the same team you saw Monday night," coach Mike Montgomery said, referring to the team's 61-57 win over Boston University in the first round. "I wasn't sure that we had that kind of game in us yet."

Barnes' free throws were big after Stanford struggled all night from the line, going only 5-for-13 in the second half before he converted his attempts.

Stanford finished the game 11-for-21 from the line.

After scoring 13 first-half points, Stanford's Josh Childress was limited to only a free throw the rest of the way and three field goal attempts.

Barnes is the Cardinal's leading returning scorer from a team that lost juniors Casey Jacobsen and Curtis Borchardt to the NBA draft.

"Julius was the right guy on the line late in the game for us," Montgomery said. "I'm still very concerned about our free throws. There's no way we can give up that many points at the line and still win games."

Montgomery, who needs five more wins to reach 500, used what he called a "one-three hybrid zone" defense against the speedy Musketeers.

"Is that a zone?" Xavier coach Thad Matta asked. "I guess that slowed us down a little bit. We stood around too much. We just didn't play up to our abilities, especially late in the game."

Stanford made a statement for getting back into the Top 25 with the victory. The Cardinal were not in the preseason AP poll, the first time the school had missed out in 94 weeks - the second longest current streak to Duke.

Stanford has not lost to a ranked non-conference opponent since Feb. 6, 1999, against Connecticut at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal have won 16 straight non-conference games at home dating to the loss to UConn.

"Stanford was ready for us," Xavier guard Lionel Chalmers said. "It didn't surprise us at all that they were this tough. They're going to do well in New York against whoever they play."