Washington State edges Stanford 34-31; Cougars get fifth straight win against Cardinal

Washington State Cougars running back Max Borghi (21) goes up against Stanford Cardinal defender Stephen Herron (left) during Sat Oct 16, 2021 game at Pullman (AP News photo)

Washington State Edges Stanford 34-31

By Barbara Mason

Saturday afternoon the Stanford Cardinal (3-4) took on Washington State Cougars (4-3) at Washington State in Pullman. With two similar records to start the game WSU faces a team that has celebrated two upsets this season. The first against USC by the score of 42-28 and the second a stunning win over 9th ranked Oregon 31-24 in overtime. WSU has won it’s last four games against Stanford which included a 49-22 victory the last time they met. WSU continued their winning way with it’s fifth straight win 34-31 in a comeback on Saturday.

WSU has two of the best receivers in the Pac-12, Calvin Jackson Jr. and Travell Harris. These two players rank third and fourth in the conference. Stanford will have to keep both of these players under wraps. The Cardinal defense will have their hands full containing WSU quarterback Jayden de Laura who has been having a banner year.

Stanford came out strong in the first quarter. Quarterback Tanner McKee threw for a 45 yard touchdown to Benjamin Yoroek. Stanford would add a couple of field goals; a 45 yard and 32 yard strike to lead 13-0 at the end of the quarter.

WSU would come roaring back as Jayden de Laura threw three touchdowns in the second quarter. Travell Harris had the first touchdown, a 32 yard pass. De Laura would hit Calvin Jackson Jr. for 31 yards and the third for ten yards to De’Zhaun Stribling. WSU led by the score of 20-13. The Cardinal would block the PAT on the second touchdown. Stanford would kick a 31 yard field goal as the half came to an end. At the half the score was 20-16 in favor of WSU.

WSU had the ball to open the second half. The Stanford defense was able to hold and put the ball back into the hands of their offense. Penalties hurt Stanford on their first drive of the third quarter putting WSU back into the drivers seat. De Laura went right to work driving downfield culminating in a six play drive for 66 yards and their fourth touchdown of the game. The Cougars had extended their lead to 27-16. Stopping De Laura was proving a major challenge for the Stanford defense.

A pass interference called on WSU coupled with some nice play by McKee was huge for Stanford setting them up with a first and goal on the WSU one yard line as the third quarter came to an end.

Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee would rush for the touchdown. The two point conversion was successful and Stanford trailed by a field goal 27-24. McKee was not finished. On Stanford’s next drive he would complete an 8 yard pass to Austin Jones for a touchdown taking the lead 31-27 with 3:42 left in the game. The WSU offense had really cooled letting Stanford back into this game.

Jayden de Laura got back on track in the latter minutes of the fourth quarter and moved his team downfield. Max Borghi rushed for a two yard touchdown giving WSU the lead and the win 34-31. The small window that Stanford had closed completely when McKee fumbled and WSU recovered with 1:30 left on the clock.

It was almost a great finish for the Cardinal but they just could not hold the Cougars at the end.

Next up for Stanford will be the Washington Huskies on Saturday October 30 at Stanford Stadium. The time for kickoff is TBD.

Trojans hand Cardinal a 79-42 drubbing

Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Southern California jumped to a huge first-half lead and never looked back on Wednesday, as the Trojans hammered Stanford 79-42 in Pac-12 men’s basketball at Galen Center in Los Angeles.

The Cardinal ended its regular season with four straight losses and possibly played their way out of an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament. Oscar da Silva, Stanford’s top scorer, missed his third straight game with a lower extremity injury.

Tahj Eaddy and Drew Peterson led USC with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Evan Mobley was next with 10 points. Peterson had nine rebounds, six assists and two steals, Isaiah White had three steals, and Evan and Isaiah Mobley each had eight rebounds.

Eaddy shot 6 of 8 from the field. The Trojans (20-6 overall, 14-5 Pac-12) outrebounded Stanford 44-27.

No Cardinal player reached double-figures in scoring, as Spencer Jones and Brandon Angel each scored nine points to lead Stanford (14-12 overall, 10-10 Pac-12). Jaiden Delaire had seven rebounds and two steals.

USC opened the game with a 17-2 run that included 15 straight points. Meanwhile, the Cardinal went 9 minutes and 20 seconds without a field goal.

Things didn’t go much better for Stanford in the second half, as USC went on a 14-0 run out of the break, extending its lead to 50-19.

Earlier, the Cardinal lost to USC 72-66 on Feb. 3.

The Cardinal’s next action is the opening round of the Pac-12 postseason tournament in Las Vegas on March 10. Pairings have yet to be announced.

Beavers complete rare NoCal road sweep with 73-62 win over Cardinal

Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, February 27, 2021

Oregon State completed a rare road sweep on Saturday, as the Beavers upended Stanford 73-62 in men’s basketball at Maples Pavilion.

The Beavers swept both California and Stanford on the road for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The Cardinal had not lost to OSU and Oregon at home in the same season since 1985-86.

Jarod Lucas netted a career-high 26 points to pace the Beavers (13-11 overall, 9-9 Pac-12). Ethan Thompson had 13 points for OSU, and Warith Alatishe contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

Oregon State has won three of its last four games, while Stanford suffered its third straight setback.

Ziaire Williams led the Cardinal (14-11, 10-9) with 14 points off the bench. Lukas Kisunas tied his career best with 12 points, followed by Spencer Jones with 10 points.

Oscar da Silva, Stanford’s leading scorer and rebounder, missed his second straight game due to what the Cardinal has termed “a lower extremity injury.”

Stanford led 34-33 at halftime, and had a 10-point lead until OSU cut its deficit with a 14-5 run in the closing minutes of the half. The Beavers took the lead for good with 14 minutes remaining in the second half, and led 65-54 on a Lucas 3-pointer with 3:11 left.

Oregon State outrebounded the Cardinal 31-29. The Beavers were 16 of 21 at the free throw line, while Stanford was 5 of 7. OSU had a 34-20 edge in points in the paint, and scored 20 points off of the Cardinal’s 16 turnovers.

There were six ties and eight lead changes.

Stanford wraps up its regular season on Wednesday, when the Cardinal visits No. 19 Southern California. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Ducks win 71-68, despite second-half surge by Cardinal

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 25, 2021

Chris Duarte’s 24 points topped a balanced Oregon attack on Thursday, as the Ducks held off Stanford 71-68 in Pac-12 men’s basketball at Maples Pavilion.

Stanford’s Ziaire Williams had a chance to tie the game with 0.4 seconds remaining, but missed his 3-point attempt.

Oregon took the lead for good at 65-64 on a Duarte 3-pointer, Chandler Lawson’s dunk made it a three-point lead 48 seconds later, and the Ducks sank 4 of 6 at the foul line down the stretch to secure the win.

Williams scored seven points in a 13-4 run that gave Stanford a 56-50 lead with 9:06 left in the second half. In this competitive battle, there were four ties and five lead changes.

Duarte scored 17 of his points in the final 10 minutes. He also had two steals, two blocks and three rebounds while hitting 9 of 16 from the field. LJ Figueroa was next for the Ducks with 13 points and three assists. Figueroa and Duarte each made three 3-pointers.

Eugene Omoruyi scored 10 points, Eric Williams Jr. was next with 10 and Chandler Lawson added nine points for Oregon (15-5 overall, 10-4 Pac-12). Omoruyi pulled down 10 of the Ducks’ 32 rebounds.

Jaiden Delaire was the Cardinal’s top scorer with 15 points, followed by Daejon Davis with 13 points and Spencer Jones with 11 points. Delaire was 7 of 14 on field goals, while Davis and Jones each hit three 3-pointers.

Bryce Wills led Stanford with seven boards, with Delaire, Davis and Jones each grabbing five rebounds.

Oscar da Silva, Stanford’s leading scorer and rebounder, did not play due to an undisclosed injury.

Stanford (14-10 overall, 10-8 Pac-12) lost the game despite outscoring the Ducks 36-30 in the paint and 18-9 off the bench. Oregon outscored the Cardinal 14-8 off turnovers and 12-7 on second-chance points.

The Cardinal shot 53 percent from the field in the second half, 49 percent for the game. Oregon, meanwhile, shot 41.9 percent on field goals and 9 of 13 at the free throw line.

Stanford hosts Oregon State on Saturday for Senior Day with a 3:30 p.m. tipoff at Maples.

Cougars outlast Cardinal 85-76 in 3 OTs

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, February 20, 2021

It took three overtimes, but Washington State finally outlasted Stanford 85-76 Saturday afternoon in Pac-12 men’s basketball at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman, Wash.

The win snapped Washington State’s nine game losing streak to the Cardinal.

Michael O’Connell set a Stanford record by playing 52 minutes; he also scored 17 points, and picked up six rebounds and seven assists.

Jaiden Delaire scored 15 points for the Cardinal, followed by Daejon Davis and Spencer Jones with 10 points each. Oscar da Silva – the Pac-12’s second-leading scorer (19.1 ppg) – was held to 11 points before he fouled out in the second overtime.

Noah Williams topped the Cougars’ scoring column with 40 points. Williams was 12 of 35 from the field – including 8 of 18 on 3-pointers – and 8 of 10 at the foul line. His 40 points were the most for a Cougar since Klay Thompson made 43 in 2011.

WSU (14-10 overall, 7-10 Pac-12) used a 9-0 run to close out the third overtime. In that spurt, Efe Abogidi scored five points, Aljaz Kunc had a basket, and Williams capped the run with a floater in the paint.

Williams hit a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining to send the contest into overtime. The Cardinal had the ball with 25 seconds left in the first overtime, but committed a shot-clock violation.

The teams were tied at 63-63 at the end of regulation, 68-68 after the first overtime, and 76-76 at the end of the second OT.

Stanford (14-9 overall, 10-7 Pac-12) outshot the Cougars 52 percent to 36 percent from the field, but WSU outrebounded Stanford 48-36, made six more 3s, and was 18 of 23 on free throws while the Cardinal was 9 of 18 at the line.

The Cougars also had 24 second-chance points to three for Stanford, and WSU outscored the Cardinal in the paint 40-20. There were 10 lead changes.

The Cardinal return to Maples Pavilion to host Oregon on Thursday.

Cardinal romp to lopsided 79-61 win over the Huskies

Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 18, 2021

A balanced attack, led by Oscar da Silva, Jaiden Delaire and Daejon Davis helped Stanford defeat Washington 79-61 in a Pac-12 men’s basketball contest played at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

It was the Cardinal’s fourth win in five games, and Washington’s sixth loss in its last seven games.

Da Silva led the Cardinal with 18 points, five rebounds, three steals and an assist. Delaire had 15 points, and Davis finished with 12 points and three assists. Point guard Michael O’Connell added seven points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals.

Ziaire Williams added nine points and Spencer Jones and Lukas Kisunas scored six points apiece for Stanford (14-8 overall, 10-6 Pac-12).

Cole Bajema was the Huskies’ top scorer with 13 points, and Erik Stevenson was next with 11 points and four rebounds. Quade Green, Washington’s top scorer, was held to five points.

Each team finished with 25 rebounds. Washington (4-17 overall, 3-13 Pac-12) was held to 32 percent shooting from the field in the first half, 41 percent for the game. The Cardinal scored 50 points in the paint, and 22 points off of UW’s 20 turnovers.

Stanford shot 57 percent on field goals, including 68 percent in the second half. The Cardinal started the second half by making 12 of 14 shots and built a lead of 26 in the second half.

The Huskies made their only free throw, while Stanford was 14 of 20 at the foul line.

The Cardinal continue their road trip at Washington State at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Cal breaks losing streak with 71-62 win, and hands Colorado a damaging blow to its NCAA aspirations

By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA — A month ago, Colorado handed Cal its worst loss. On Saturday night, the Bears returned the favor.

Matt Bradley scored a career-best 29 points to lead Cal past Colorado, 71-62, snapping their seven-game losing streak in the process. Makale Foreman converted a pair of free throws with 16:58 remaining and the Bears never trailed again, a stunning reversal after the Bears lost by 29 points at Boulder on January 14.

“We played as well as we have all year,” coach Mark Fox said.

Buffs coach Tad Boyle tried to impress upon his club beforehand the sneaky challenge Cal presents in that they’ve piled up the losses while becoming increasingly competitive which they were in losing to Utah 76-75 on Thursday.

Apparently, Boyle’s club didn’t get the message.

“Cal is a team that’s playing better,” Boyle said. “They’re a helluva lot better than their record, I can tell you that. With that being said, this is a game we should have won, but we weren’t good enough tonight.”

“We did a lot of standing around,” said McKinley Wright IV. “The coaches had the perfect scouting report and we just didn’t execute.”

Colorado allowed the Bears to impose their plodding tempo, a task that became a lot easier with Cal getting off to a rare, fast start. The Bears led 10-4, 14-13 and after a long drought, recovered to lead 36-33 at the break. It was freshman Jalen Celestine, making his second start in place of Ryan Betley, that came up big for Cal in that regard.

Celestine scored nine of the Bears’ first 22 points–on three 3-pointers–to energize Cal while also taking the challenge of guarding Wright, a candidate for Pac-12 Player of the Year. While Celestine sizzled, Wright was held in check, finishing with 13 points (on 3 of 11 shooting) and two assists.

Bradley seamlessly followed Celestine’s lead with 15 before the break, and 14 after including a critical 3-pointer with 40 seconds that increased Cal’s lead to 65-60. The junior guard was 9 for 17 from the floor and 9 of 10 from the line in surpassing the 20-point mark for the fifth time in his last six games.

Colorado (16-5, 10-5) blew past Stanford on Thursday for their ninth win in 11 games, a run that has them in good standing with the NCAA Tournament selection committee. But should the Buffs falter in games against USC, UCLA or Oregon in their final stretch, earlier losses to Washington (167 in the Pomeroy ratings) and Cal (134) will receive greater scrutiny as bad losses.

“It gives us our fifth (Pac-12) loss and we’re back in the pack,” Boyle said. “Thought we had a chance to compete for a championship. We’ve just got to figure out how win our next one.”

Beating one of the conference’s best teams after nearly a month of losing typified the season for Cal (8-15, 3-13). Not particularly talented by Pac-12 standards, nor tall or deep, the Bears have confounded by staying engaged, when other teams might have splintered. Fox deserves credit for that along with his staff that hasn’t hesitated to shake things up. Celestine’s emergence is one of those moves. After not playing in seven games, and never seeing more than 18 minutes of action in any one game, the freshman played 33 minutes against Colorado.

“We felt like in the game today we could use him defensively against McKinley Wright because he has athleticism and size and he’s got great balance and so defensively I thought he was really good,” Fox explained.

The Bears travel to Washington next with their Pullman stop to face Washington State on Thursday. The battle not to finish last in conference play comes Saturday in Seattle against UW.

Cardinal return to the win column by upending Utes 73-66

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, February 13, 2021

With Spencer Jones leading the charge, Stanford bounced back from Thursday’s loss and defeated Utah 73-66 Saturday in Pac-12 men’s basketball at Maples Pavilion.

Jones sank a career-high five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points. He made two of his 3s in the final 5:02 as the Cardinal (13-8 overall, 9-6 Pac-12) held off a late Utes charge.

Jones was 6 of 11 overall from the field, 5 of 9 behind the arc.

Oscar da Silva scored 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting for the Cardinal, and Michael O’Connell and Jaiden Delaire added 11 points each for Stanford, as the Cardinal finished the game hitting 54 percent of its field goals.

Utah (9-8, 6-7) cut the Cardinal lead to five in the final minute after trailing by double digits most of the second half.

Alfonso Plummer scored eight of his 14 points in the opening minutes of the first half, sparking the Utes to a 12-2 lead. But Stanford outscored the Utes 30-8 over the rest of the first half, using runs of seven and 11 straight points.

The Cardinal held a 34-22 halftime lead.

Timmy Allen led the Utes with 18 points, and Branden Carlson added 12 points and 11 rebounds. Allen scored 14 of his points in the second half.

Stanford travels to Washington on Thursday, and to Washington State next Saturday.

Buffaloes hold Cardinal to season scoring low, 69-51

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, February 11, 2021

Colorado held Stanford to its season-low scoring total on Thursday at Maples Pavilion, as the Buffaloes won 69-51 in Pac-12 men’s basketball.

McKinley Wright led the Buffs (16-5 overall, 10-4 Pac-12) with 14 points and nine rebounds. Eli Parquet was next with 10 points.

Oscar da Silva registered his third straight 20-point game, leading the Cardinal (12-8, 8-6) with a game-high 22 points to go with three blocked shots and six rebounds. Spencer Jones added eight points for Stanford, whose previous scoring low this season was 56 point at Oregon on Jan. 2.

Also, for Stanford, Ziaire Williams had seven points and Jaiden Delaire added six points.

Colorado outrebounded the Cardinal 32-23. The Buffs shot 49 percent (28 of 57) from the field, including eight 3-pointers. Stanford was held to 39.6 percent (19 of 48) shooting, including 3 of 15 behind the arc.

The Buffaloes led by 11 points at halftime, though Stanford got as close as 49-43 on a Jones 3-pointer eight minutes into the second half. Colorado pulled away for good with a 14-2 run, highlighted by back-to-back 3s by Jeriah Horne and Maddox Daniels.

On Saturday, The Buffs continue their Bay Area road swing at California. Meanwhile, the Cardinal play host to Utah.

Arizona State holds off late Cardinal rally, wins 79-75

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By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 30, 2021

Arizona State held off a gallant effort by Stanford on Saturday, and the Sun Devils won 79-75 in Pac-12 men’s basketball played at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz.

It was the second consecutive win for the struggling Sun Devils (6-8 overall, 3-5 Pac-12), and their first sweep in league play since defeating Oregon and Oregon State at home late last season.

The Cardinal (10-6 overall, 6-4 Pac-12) led 73-69 with 2:58 to play when ASU guard Joshua Christopher sank a 3-pointer. After a defensive stop, Arizona State took a 74-73 lead on a pair of Kimani Lawrence free throws at 1:46.

Michael O’Connell’s floating jumper put the Cardinal back in front at 75-74, but Lawrence put back an offensive rebound which was goaltended, and was fouled. He hit the free throw and ASU went back ahead 77-75.

Remy Martin was fouled after getting a steal, but the ASU point guard missed the front end of a 1-and-1, and the Cardinal had one more possession with eight seconds left. The Sun Devils defense forced a turnover, Alonzo Verge Jr. made a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left.

The Sun Devils forced Stanford into 20 turnovers – 13 in the first half. The Cardinal, meanwhile made 31 of 34 free throws to keep the game close. Stanford outrebounded ASU 34-24.

Jaiden Delaire led Stanford with 21 points, and Oscar da Silva finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.

Martin was ASU’s top scorer with 23 points, followed by Christopher with 15 points and 12 points each from Marcus Bagley and Jalen Graham.

Stanford has a busy week ahead. The Cardinal host USC at Maples Pavilion on Tuesday, travel to Berkeley to face California on Thursday, and host the Golden Bears on Sunday, Feb. 7.