Nov. 15, 2012
STANFORD, Calif.- Josh Huestis made the most of his shots, helping make up for a terrible shooting night from the rest of his teammates.
Huestis scored a career-high 18 points, leading Stanford to a 69-51 victory over Alcorn State on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion.
Chasson Randle added 10 points and Dwight Powell grabbed 10 rebounds for the Cardinal (3-0), which has won eight straight dating to last year's run to the Postseason NIT tournament title.
Huestis made eight of his 10 field goal attempts while the rest of the team shot 26 percent from the field.
"We're a tough team and our biggest asset is playing defense," Huestis said. "It was one of those nights where the shots weren't falling, and that's why we need to play defense."
Stanford outrebounded the Braves by a 51-29 margin, including a 23-5 advantage on the offensive boards. As a result, the Cardinal outscored Alcorn State 20-4 on second chance points.
"One of our goals coming into the game was to allow no second chances and to hold them to under seven offensive rebounds," Braves coach Luther Riley said. "That didn't work. They're big, they push and they play physical."
Anthony Nieves scored 12 points, Josh Nicholas 11 and Anthony Evans 10 for Alcorn State (1-2), which was without the services of returning starting point guard Martrevious Sanders for all but a few minutes.
The Braves held an early lead at 9-8 before Stanford put together a 13-2 run and never trailed again, eventually leading by as many as 21.
"I thought our guys executed well; we just couldn't make shots," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We got the ball where we wanted and got good looks. It was a good test that we had to rely on our defense. Tonight was a good indication we can do that."
Stanford held a 33-21 advantage at halftime despite shooting just under 30 percent. The Cardinal outrebounded Alcorn State 25-15 and forced 10 turnovers in the first half.
by Rick Eymer, Associated Press
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NOTES: Stanford shot 34.4 percent overall and was just 4-18 (22.2 percent) from beyond the arc. However, the Cardinal made 21-30 (70.0 percent) from the charity stripe ... Stanford forced 20 turnovers for the third consecutive game, with Alcorn State committing 20 miscues ... The Cardinal's 50 rebounds were the most since pulling down 54 against Massachusetts in last year's NIT semifinal ... After shooting 43.6 percent from beyond the arc last year, Aaron Bright is 0-8 from deep so far this year. On Thursday night, he was just 1-7 from the field overall, but made up for it with a 7-8 clip from the foul line ... Stefan Nastic made his first career start, scoring three points and grabbing four rebounds in 18 minutes ... Anthony Brown entered the game having made 1-10 from the field, but contributed seven points and five boards off the bench ... Andy Brown missed the game after suffering a sprained ankle in practice on Wednesday. He will be evaluated on Friday ... Rosco Allen broke into the scoring column for the first time in his career, finishing with six points and four boards in 12 key minutes off the bench ... Stanford's first-half point totals through three games are as follows: San Francisco (32), Cal State Fullerton (31) and Alcorn State (33) ... The Cardinal wraps up its three-game, seven-day homestand on Sunday at 6 p.m. against Belmont.
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QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
General thoughts on the game...
"I thought we executed well. We couldn't make shots. I thought we got the ball where we wanted. We got some good looks and unfortunately, they didn't go in like we would have liked to see them go in. But, it was a good test for us because we had to rely on our defense, which is what I've been preaching to our guys. It's all about how you can win defensively and I thought tonight was an indication our kids understood that you can go out there, defend and be successful."
On Stanford's defense...
"I'm always big on giving other guys credit. It's easy to say what we didn't do, but you'll always hear me say the same thing. It is a team out there defending us well and so, giving credit, they played good defense. I thought we got good looks, got the ball where we wanted to, but they made plays. But, I thought our guys were able to settle down and were able to create some separation just by continuing to defend and making plays down in front of us."
Junior Josh Huestis
General thoughts on the game...
"We're a tough team and our biggest asset is that we play defense. We've just got to keep building on that. Shots aren't going to fall certain nights, but we've got to be that team that brings the defensive pressure every single game. It keeps teams on their toes and we can obviously get better. We can get better from this game and get ready for the next one."
On Stanford's offensive woes...
"It's just one of those games. Everybody couldn't knock down shots. It was just one of those nights shots weren't falling and that's why we rely on our defense. But all the shots that guys took, I'm confident we'll knock them down in other games."
Alcorn State Head Coach Luther Riley
General thoughts on the game...
"Stanford is good and well-coached, but I think the real story was that they really killed us on the offensive rebounds. They got 28 points off the offensive boards. They're big, they push, they play physical -- so hats off to coach Dawkins. He does a great job."
"We have to go back and go to work. I thought we had a chance tonight. One of our goals coming into the game was to allow no second chances and to hold them to under 7 offensive rebounds. That didn't work tonight."
"They (Stanford) kind of mirror what Duke does. They spread you out, their point guard (Aaron) Bright really gets in the gap, they run a lot of ball-screen action, and they kick it out to their shooters. Powell and those guys were knocking shots down. They're very good at what they do."