Nov. 23, 2012
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas- (AP) - Chasson Randle broke out of a 3-point shooting slump and scored a game-high 21 points to lead Stanford to a 66-50 victory over Northern Iowa on Friday in the consolation semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis.
Known as a good shooter, Randle had a rough start to the season, making 3-22 from beyond the arc in the Cardinal's first five games. He finished 4-6 on Friday and made one with 8:12 left after Northern Iowa closed to 49-45. That started an 11-2 scoring run that put the game away. Stanford was 8-19 from beyond the arc.
Stanford (4-2) will meet Minnesota (5-1) in the fifth-place game Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PT. The Golden Gophers beat No. 19/17 Memphis 84-75 in the first game of the day.
At the other end of the spectrum for the Cardinal, Dwight Powell, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the 78-70 opening-round loss to No. 13 Missouri, had two points on 0-3 shooting and two rebounds while battling foul trouble in 17 minutes.
Andy Brown picked up the scoring load, though, finishing with a career-high 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting while grabbing six boards and collecting four steals.
Jake Koch had 12 points and Marc Sonnen added 12 for the Panthers (3-2), who lost 51-46 to No. 2/2 Louisville in the opening round.
The Panthers stayed even on the boards at 31-31 with the Cardinal but they committed 16 turnovers that Stanford converted into 26 points. Stanford had 10 turnovers, only two in the second half when it pulled away from a 30-30 tie.
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NOTES: Chasson Randle notched his seventh career 20-point game and third of the season, following up Thursday's 22-point effort against No. 13/14 Missouri ... Andy Brown established career highs in points (15), field goals (7), rebounds (6) and minutes (29) ... John Gage chipped in with 10 points off the bench for the second straight game, grabbing five rebounds and knocking down two three-pointers ... Chasson Randle has made 13 consecutive free throws while Dwight Powell has connected on his last 10 attempts ... In nine career games played on a neutral court, Chasson Randle is averaging 17.3 points while shooting 48.9 percent (47-96) from the field, 44.8 percent (22-49) from three-point territory and 83.3 percent (40-48) from the foul line ... Stanford held a 36-12 edge in bench scoring ... Stanford and Northern Iowa were tied 30-30 at halftime, representing the first time since Jan. 27, 2011 (29-29 vs. Oregon), that the Cardinal and its opponent were even at intermission ... The Cardinal connected on eight three-pointers, equaling its total from the previous two games combined ... Robbie Lemons was efficient once again off the bench, chipping in with five points and three boards. Lemons entered this weekend with 11 points in 23 career games. He has scored 10 points combined over the last two games.
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QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"I am really happy for my group. This is a very difficult field and to lose a game and bounce back says a lot about the team. Once you lose a game, sometimes it can snowball for you and I am really proud of my kids' maturity and how we approached today's game against a very good team. Guarding their 3's was very difficult. They are a very disciplined team offensively. They are very good defensively and I thought our guys did a really good job buying into the game plan."
"Chasson (Randle) is a terrific player. He is only scratching the surface and it is a process. He is putting all the pieces together, and I am really happy for him. Chasson worked so hard this summer and my biggest comment to him is that you deserve to have success when you put that type of work in and that type of commitment. We are happy to see him play the way we know he is capable of."
"You want to bounce back as fast as we can. We talked about how we had to go out and compete and play well. And our guys did, and responded to the kind of challenge I gave them. I was so proud of our effort, especially in the second half."
"Our guys play well together. You have to look at different combinations on the floor and see what works for us. This is a journey and you have to get better every time out."
Sophomore Chasson Randle
"It is always good to see the ball go in. It is all about confidence. If you get that confidence and you see the ball go in, you start feeling that things will go well for you. I want to work towards where when I don't see the ball going in, I still keep that confidence and still continue to play well."
Northern Iowa Head Coach Ben Jacobson
"We got off to a slow start in the first half and we had to fight hard to get it tied by halftime. Stanford has good depth and also size and length along its front line. When you fight that hard to get yourself tied at halftime, you know there will be a point where they are able to get some things going again and they did that."
"We had a chance in the second half with seven or eight minutes and another chance to make the game go down to the wire, but then again dug ourselves a hole too many times early in the second half."
"There were plenty of times and stretches today where we were working hard to take advantage of the opportunity, to have a chance to beat a good basketball team. But we didn't have enough going on in offense and didn't finish the possession on defense and those hurt us."