STANFORD, Calif. (AP) – Senior guard Christian Sanders returned to his high school roots and made the most of the opportunity. He helped Stanford open the season on a good note.
Sanders scored eight of his career high 23 points in overtime, Rosco Allen hit a key three-pointer and Stanford beat Green Bay, 93-89, Friday night in its opening game of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Allen had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal, who won its sixth straight season-opener. Reid Travis added 16, and Dorian Pickens had 14. Michael Humphrey added 13 points and 11 rebounds and Malcom Allen scored 10.
Sanders, who played point guard in high school, felt comfortable moving back into the position. He's had about two weeks, since Robert Cartwright broke a bone in his forearm, to relearn the spot.
“With Robert going down, the team needed me to play the point,” Sanders said. “We were searching for ourselves early in the game. We're going to keep on learning.”
Carrington Love scored 32 points, which included a 6-of-9 performance from long range, to lead the Phoenix, who had their five-game opening day streak end.
“For a segment of the game we got stagnant,” Love said. “Their best players made plays late in regulation and in overtime that they weren't making earlier.”
Charles Cooper, who scored 19 points, hit a field goal and free throw with 3.4 seconds left to tie the game at 74 and Pickens missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send it into overtime.
“They just made a few more plays than we did,” Phoenix coach Linc Darner said. “They did some things in the second half that really hurt us defensively. They made some adjustments.”
Pickens scored five points in the final 2:27 to give the Cardinal a 72-68 advantage.
Love's third 3-pointer of the night, five minutes into the second half, gave Green Bay a 14-point edge at 48-34.
The Cardinal went on a 21-7 run over the next seven minutes, drawing even on a Travis jumper with 8:05 remaining to play.
“We're trying to find out who we are as a team,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We shared the ball and that's what we need to do. We have to do it by committee.”
The Phoenix used a 13-1 run during a five-minute stretch of the first half, punctuated by consecutive 3-pointers from Love.
The Cardinal were 0-for-4 from the floor, turned the ball over four times and made 1-of-4 free throws over that span.
Green Bay eventually took a 38-28 halftime lead.
Stanford returns to action Sunday as the Cardinal hosts Charleston Southern as part of NIT Season Tip-Off.
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Johnny Dawkins:
“I thought it was a big test for us. Definitely when that’s your first game, you’re playing Green Bay, a team with a really good tradition. They’re used to winning, they’re used to going on the road and having upset games. So I was just really proud of how our guys responded. Being down 14 at one point, being down late in the game by 10, and our guys just finding a way to pull out the win says a lot about them. We’re still trying to find out who we are as a team, trying to find our identity based on not having our full personnel. I thought our guys did a great job. The one thing we did learn is that we do have heart and we have an amazing will to win.”
“[At halftime,] we talked about a few things. One, we talked about trying to value to the basketball. Being a little more patient. Understanding what we’re looking for in our offense. And I thought that contributed greatly to it. And then we found some things that we felt we could go to that they had a hard time guarding and that we stuck with, and it was good for us throughout the second half.”
Rosco Allen:
“They jumped on us with the press. We didn’t handle it as well as we should have. After we regrouped mid-way through the second half, we kind of calmed ourselves down and really took advantage and started to exploit that aggressiveness into our buckets.”
“Early, [the press] was effective. Early, instead of attacking it to score like we should and we’re taught – we seemed hesitant. A lot of ball fakes instead of just one ball fake, hard pass. But when they came to trap, they didn’t come super hard and smother you, they left space. So you were a little in between: ‘Should I try to dribble this up? Should I try and pass it over?’ We didn’t handle that awkwardness well at all, but at halftime, we really discussed a lot about it. It was kind of just a ‘grow up’ kind of thing. Because we already knew what to do.”
Christian Sanders:
“I thought we were searching for ourselves early in the game. And they played well — they defended well, they offensive-rebounded very well, which are things that we can help control but they did a really good job of being aggressive in those areas. Offensively, rebounding, and defensively, putting pressure on us, bringing different guys off of doubles. I think it’s something we’ll see a lot this year considering Robert Cartwright went down. I don’t think we played very well in the beginning, but as the game went on, we seemed to get comfortable and make the right passes.”
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Green Bay Head Coach Linc Darner:
"We were hoping to come away with a win, but they just made a few more plays than we did. We had a chance to score six points on two fouls on threes, and we only scored one (point). I thought that was a big turning point there in the second half. If you hit those free throws -- we were up 2 or 3, and all of a sudden if it goes up to 7 -- then it's a different game.
"They did some things in the second half that really hurt us defensively. They made some adjustments, like having just Rosco (Allen) taking it out (on the inbounds plays). When (Reid) Travis took it out, we went and trapped in the first half, and we got them turned over a few times. We wanted to see their big guys handle the ball, knowing that their point guard is out (Robert Cartwright).
"In the second half, it was just Rosco (taking the ball out). They did a lot of ball screens with Reid Travis there (in the second half). That's a tough matchup for us. But we turned them over 21 times, which was good for us. We turned it over a few too many times, 17, but we played well for the most part. We hit a bad stretch where we couldn't make a field goal or a free throw, and that's where they got back in the game.
"Our thing was not to let them get to the rim, to make them take threes, and then they hit two big threes (both by Rosco Allen). They made the plays.
"We didn't execute some of the stuff we taught them in practice, but it's going to come with time and understanding of how we want to do things. But I told our guys that the way we competed and played, if we can correct a few of our mistakes, we have a chance to be okay this year."
Guard Carrington Love
"A lot of our guys got in foul trouble. For a segment of the game we got stagnant. Their best players made plays late in regulation and in overtime that they weren't making earlier. I was proud to see some of our guys step up down the stretch, especially Charles Cooper, with the three-point play to send it to overtime.
"We've got a lot of season left, this is only Game 1. I feel like Stanford's going to be a good team in the Pac-12. We can only look ahead."
