RETURN OF DAVIS LIFTS STANFORD STANFORD 68, WASH. ST. 47.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

Stanford won its first-ever Pacific-10 Conference Tournament game, solidified its bid for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and played with renewed defensive passion after its 26-game winning streak was snapped last week.

But the best news Thursday in the Cardinal's 68-47 first-round thumping of Washington State was hidden in the box score, wrapped in a knee brace and wasn't out of his warm-ups very often.

The return of forward Justin Davis, who missed nearly seven weeks with a partially torn knee ligament, left the second-ranked Cardinal encouraged about a run to their first Final Four since 1998.

Davis, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound senior, scored seven points, collected four rebounds and a steal in 14 minutes, but it was less about the numbers than the way he looked and the presence he provides Stanford inside.

``He's invaluable,'' Stanford center Robert Little said. ``He could be the difference between winning a national championship and going out (of the NCAA Tournament) in the early rounds.''

One of the remarkable achievements of Stanford's season has been its ability to overcome injuries to Davis, Pac-10 MVP Josh Childress and All- Pac-10 point guard Chris Hernandez, who have missed a total of 21 games.

Yet they're clearly a different team with Davis, the Pac-10's leading rebounder a year ago. He gives the Cardinal an excellent passer, an athletic big man and a double-post threat with Little - something that was obvious immediately.

When Davis first entered, a little more than four minutes into the game, Stanford sent the ball into Little on one block, then swung it quickly around the perimeter to Davis on the opposite block. Without hesitation he wheeled and sank a short bank shot.

``You could feel it on the bench,'' Stanford coach Mike Montgomery said of Davis' first touch. ``Wow, that's going to help us. ... If nothing else, he makes a psychological difference to the team.''

Davis said his knee is about 75 percent healthy and that he's lacking his normal explosiveness when he has to make a second or third quick jump. But he was pleased to be out there and will get more playing time today against Oregon.

``I wanted to show my game on one leg,'' Davis said. ``My knee probably won't be fully healed until April, so I have to focus on other things (besides scoring), like getting 10 to 11 rebounds a game.''

In addition to getting Davis back, the Cardinal (27-1) also got their defense back. The Pac-10's leader in field-goal percentage defense held the Cougars to 26.7 shooting.

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com