NEW YORK -- Chasson Randle wraps up his Stanford career with 2,375 points, and the last two won him another NIT title.
Two days after setting the school's career scoring record, Randle made the go-ahead free throws with 3.4 seconds left in overtime, and the Cardinal edged Miami 66-64 on Thursday.
Sheldon McClellan's double-pumping 3-point attempt that would have won it at the buzzer wasn't close to going in.
The short-handed Hurricanes had rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to force OT and led 64-61 with less than a minute left. But Randle twice got to the line, making four straight foul shots for the victory.
Never stop competing, no matter what the situation. NIT champions: http://t.co/DB982l7K8l #GoStanford pic.twitter.com/YT2MOqqCBo
— Stanford Men's Hoops (@stanfordbball) April 3, 2015
"We were going to put the ball in Chasson's hands and he was going to decide it for us," coach Johnny Dawkins said.
The senior finished with 25 points to earn most outstanding player honors. He had scored 15 in the 2012 NIT title game as a freshman.
When it was all said and done, Stanford received 43 combined points from its senior tri-captains of Randle, Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic. In addition to accounting for 65.9 percent of Stanford's scoring, all three seniors are completing coursework toward their master's degrees.
The experimental 30-second shot clock being used in the NIT proved critical after Randle's free throws pulled Stanford to 64-63 with 38.9 seconds left. Under the regular 35-second clock, the Cardinal (24-13) probably would have needed to foul. Instead, they played defense, and Deandre Burnett missed a 3-point attempt that might have clinched it.
Randle then leaned into Davon Reed on a jumper to draw a foul.
"That's what you saw down the stretch of the game, the last few minutes and in overtime, just a will to win," Dawkins said.
Miami (25-13) threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds, and after Brown made a free throw with 3.1 seconds to go, the Hurricanes appeared to do it again. But the officials went to the monitor and reversed the call, ruling Stanford touched the ball last. That gave Miami one last chance with the ball under the basket and 1.8 seconds left.
"I know our guys are very, very disappointed, but I told them I love them," coach Jim Larranaga said. "I'm very, very proud of them. They did a fantastic job. This last three weeks has been a blast."
With the scored tied 55-all and just over a minute left in regulation, the game became a contest of the teams' top scorers driving to the hoop. Twice Randle hit shots to put Stanford ahead only for Sheldon McClellan to draw a foul on the other end and drain both free throws to tie it.
After McClellan made it 59-59 with 16.8 seconds to go, Stanford worked the ball around for an open 3-point attempt by Marcus Allen. He missed it at the buzzer to send the game to overtime.
All-time leading scorer. NCAA Sweet 16. Cutting down NIT nets at MSG (twice). Two degrees. Yep, best of both worlds. pic.twitter.com/OUlmLpYQwg
— Brian Risso (@brian_risso) April 3, 2015
McClellan led the Hurricanes with 17 points. He shot just 5-16 from the floor with Brown playing tough defense on him but was 6-7 from the foul line.
And with Stanford center Stefan Nastic fouling out late in regulation, McClellan finally started to find room in the paint in OT. He drove the lane for a dunk to give Miami its first lead since nearly seven minutes remained in the first half, then dished to Reed for a layup and the three-point lead.
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NOTES: Stanford is now 43-22 all-time in 26 postseason appearances, including an 18-5 record in eight NIT appearances. The Cardinal also won the NIT title in 1991 and 2012 … Stanford improved to 15-5 in 10 visits to Madison Square Garden … Stanford was playing a game in April for the first time in school history. The 37 games matched the school record established in 2012 … Stanford is one of four Pac-12 teams to have appeared in four straight postseasons, joining Arizona, Colorado and Oregon … Head coach Johnny Dawkins is 141-100 in seven seasons … Stanford has reached the 20-win plateau four times during Dawkins’ tenure. Only Mike Montgomery has notched more 20-win seasons (13 times in an 18-year career) in 100 seasons of Stanford basketball … Chasson Randle finished his career with 2,375 points as the school’s all-time leading scorer. Randle ranks third all-time in conference history (Pac-8, Pac-10, Pac-12) behind only UCLA’s Don MacLean (2,608) and Arizona’s Sean Elliott (2,555) … Stefan Nastic (11 points) earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team … Anthony Brown grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds. Brown finished with nine points, finishing with 1,562 career points, ranking 11th all-time in school history … Marcus Allen finished with nine points and 10 boards while Reid Travis added seven points and seven rebounds. Over five NIT games, Allen averaged 11.4 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 55.0 percent from the field. Travis averaged 6.4 points and 6.6 rebounds while shooting 50.0 percent overall … Stanford outrebounded Miami 45-29 … The Cardinal’s biggest lead was 13 points at the 19:13 mark of the second half … Stanford improved to 2-1 against Miami. Tonight was the first meeting since a 93-59 Cardinal win back on Jan. 16, 1989 at Maples Pavilion.
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Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
“Well, I think it was an incredible game, the type of game you expect when you're competing for a championship. I was really proud of our guys because I thought Miami played extremely well in the second half but our guys just refused to lose. I think that's what you saw down the stretch of the game, the last few minutes and in overtime, just a will to win.”
“How many teams are going to win championships this year? Not very many. So to have a championship moment, it goes with you for the rest of your life. Of course, there was disappointment that we didn't make the NCAA Tournament, like there was for a lot of teams. We felt like a lot of teams that we were a bubble team, and it could have gone our way just as easily as it went some of those teams' way that went in there. But we didn't hang our heads. When we said we were invited to the NIT, we looked at each other and said, hey, we're in it. Let's prove everybody wrong. Over the last four years, we've won two NIT championships and we have gone to the Sweet 16. I don't think that's horrible. I think we have shown that we can be competitive in either tournament because when we've been in any of them, we've had success.”
“For my seniors especially, to go out on this note and to have a chance to cut down a net to win a championship, they will remember that for the rest of their lives. We talked about that at halftime and we talked about it before the game, just the memories that they will have, having had success here if they were fortunate enough to win at Madison Square Garden against a very good basketball team for a championship.”
“You're always looking at time to score and making decisions based on that, though. For us, I looked at the differential, and the differential was more than enough. It was eight without them taking a shot. So I'm figuring worst case scenario, I'll have the eight, probably have 10 or 12 if the shots goes up for four or five seconds, rebound it. So I knew with that amount of time, we get one stop, we would have one good possession because there was a lot of time on the clock. We were going to put the ball in Chasson's hands and he was going to decide it for us, and he did.”
Stanford Senior Chasson Randle
“There were no nerves. I had been in that position before earlier in the year at UCLA, and I made the first one, missed the second one. So, I remember; I'd be in practice thinking about that, I'll be back in this moment and how am I going to feel. I just wanted to feel as calm as possible, and when I got up there, I did. I was calm and I was fortunate to knock them down.”
“My teammates and my coaches, they told us we've still got control of this game. We just wanted to go out there and be aggressive, and we knew we had five minutes for the rest of our season. We just wanted to come out as champions.”
“It's just a great feeling, just to be able to end your season and your career with a win. I'm just so happy with our seniors and all six of us, as well as the younger guys, they will have something to hang their hats on in the spring and summer when they are working to get either back here or with the NCAA Championship.”
Miami Head Coach Jim Larranaga
“Well, the shooting percentages suggest that was not a pretty game, but I thought both teams played extremely hard, very aggressively at both ends, and we put ourselves in a position to win the game. And unfortunately, we came up just one basket short. Our guys are very, very disappointed, but I told them, I love them. I'm very, very proud of them. They did a fantastic job. This last three weeks has been a blast. My congratulations to Stanford, Johnny Dawkins and his staff.”
“Well, initially we played them man to man. And Chasson was very, very good and very effective in the first half, so we started the second half in a box and one. We switched then to a zone. But what we were doing, even though it had mild success, it wasn't the aggressive mindset we needed. Chasson is an outstanding offensive player, very hard to guard. He draws fouls very well and he can make threes and free throws. I don't think he missed a free throw; if he did, it wasn't at the end, because he was really, really sharp down the stretch, and that's what he's done. That's why he's the leading scorer in Stanford history.”
“I think unfortunately we’ve been playing from behind a lot this year. We seem to be feeling more of a sense of urgency after the first half, and our guys know if they dig deep, they can fight their way out of a deficit. We put ourselves in position to win the game. But again, Randle was outstanding down the stretch, and he made all the key plays for them.”
Miami Junior Sheldon McClellan
"The original play was for me to look for the lob, to lob one open and Ivan was supposed to pop a three and it wasn't open so he cut to the basket, and I just made myself available to the ball. But I was looking for a shot break and jumping for him or shot break got us another foul, but at the time I was just trying to get a shot off. It was just a tough shot to try to make.”
