Wyoming Cowboys guard Kenny Foster (22) and Stanford Cardinal forward Brandon Angel (23) battle for the basketball at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu on Wed Dec 22, 2021 (AP News photo)
By Daniel Dullum
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Despite a late scare from Wyoming, Stanford held on and edged the Cowboys 66-63 Wednesday in the opening round of the Diamond Head Classic men’s basketball holiday tournament at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu.
The Cardinal (7-4) play Liberty in Thursday’s second round, while Wyoming (9-2) faces Northern Iowa in the consolation bracket.
Jaiden Delaire led Stanford with 17 points, and Spencer Jones tossed in 15. Michael O’Connell added nine points and five assists. Delaire and Harrison Ingram each had seven rebounds.
Graham Ike netted a game-high 25 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Wyoming, accounting for his fifth double-double of the season. Hunter Maldonado scored 18 points and Xavier DuSell added 13 for the Cowboys.
The Cowboys led briefly in the second half after forging a 7-0 run. A basket by Spencer Jones put the Cardinal ahead to stay with six minutes remaining, as he combined with O’Connell to score 11 of Stanford’s final 14 points.
Wyoming had a chance to tie the game with 32 seconds to play, but was unable to complete a three-point play. Later, the Cowboys missed a pair of 3-point attempts with 8.1 seconds to play as time ran out. Stanford, meanwhile, made 2 of 4 free throws in the final 26 seconds.
Neither team shot particularly well. The Cardinal hit 39 percent of their field goal attempts, while Wyoming hit 43 percent. The two teams combined for 9 of 45 behind the arc. Stanford, which outrebounded the Cowboys 41-35, led 35-30 at halftime.
Daniel Dullum is a Stanford Cardinal staff writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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