Nov. 28, 2012
STANFORD, Calif.- Andy Brown has missed the large part of the last three years to knee surgeries. He's not about to waste any more time.
Brown scored a career-high 17 points and Dwight Powell grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds in leading Stanford past Seattle 68-57 Wednesday night.
"I'm trying to play as hard as I can," Brown said. "My motto now is to not take anything for granted. I'm going to be aggressive."
Chasson Randle added 15 points for the Cardinal (5-3), which had lost three of their previous four games.
"We defended well and that gave us a chance to win," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said.
Josh Huestis blocked a career-high 10 shots, two off the school record set by Brook Lopez, as the Cardinal improved to 5-0 against the Redhawks, who will be competing in the WAC this season.
"They are a dangerous team," Huestis said. "They kept us going to the end. I think this game showed just how far along this team has come when we are able to grind out this win."
Prince Obasi recorded career-high totals with 18 points and eight rebounds for the Redhawks (2-2). Redshirt freshman Deshaun Sunderhaus had 12 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
Brown was 6-9 from the field and also recorded a career-high seven rebounds.
Freshman Rosco Allen hit a pair of free throws with 6:36 remaining to play to put Stanford ahead, 49-48.
Louis Green hit a short jumper to bring Seattle even at 50 but the Cardinal went on a run and maintained their advantage.
The Redhawks led 36-29 just over two minutes into the second half.
"We're inexperienced in some areas, but we have some talent," Seattle coach Cameron Dollar said. "I thought our guys came out and showed that."
Stanford made six of its first 25 shots (24 percent) and then shot 41 percent the rest of the way. The Redhawks also held a 28-18 advantage on the boards in the first half. The Cardinal closed that gap to 45-41 by the end of the game.
"They were probably a little more ready for a battle down to the finish than we were at this point," Dollar said. "They've been in some battles, even before our game."
Seattle led at halftime, 30-27.
- by Rick Eymer, Associated Press
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NOTES: The school record for blocks is 12, established by Brook Lopez on Jan. 25, 2007 in a 65-50 win over USC. Lopez recorded a triple-double in that game, finishing with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 12 swats ... Dwight Powell misfired on his second free throw attempt of the night, ending a streak of 18 consecutive makes dating back to Nov. 18 against Belmont ... Stanford finished 23-28 from the free throw line and is now shooting 74.0 percent (151-204) for the season ... The Cardinal held a 29-8 edge in bench scoring ... The Cardinal racked up nine steals ... Andy Brown is shooting 63.9 percent (23-36) from the field in seven games ... Christian Sanders made his second three-pointer of the year and is now 2-10 from long range ... Chasson Randle scored in double-figures (15) for the team-leading seventh time this year.
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QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"The bottom line for us is that we have to keep defending. I look at every game this year that we've won and we've been in, we've defended well. That's given us a chance to play in and to win every game we've played. That's what we have to do. Our guys are going to start making shots; these guys are too good of shooters, they work too hard it and I know it's a matter of them staying with it and realizing that the biggest thing that we're going to learn from this experience is that defense wins. That's what we've been able to do to make sure we've been in every one of the games we're playing."
"Maybe I'm playing Josh at the wrong position, maybe I should play him at center? You know what, I'm just very proud of Josh and how he's grown as a player over the years. There's no one who's worked any harder. He has a knack for blocking shots, very good timing, he's long, and he plays to win every night. I thought the blocked shots were great. I thought equally great for Josh was when he stepped up and hit the three, hit the jumper in the short corner, all plays that were momentum plays for us in the second half. I like to see that growth in a young man."
"We're going to miss Anthony, of course. Anthony's been a young man who has started for us and played good minutes for us his entire career. So of course, we'll miss him but I'm excited about the kids we have that are stepping up. I'm excited about Andy Brown and what he's doing. I'm excited about Robbie Lemons and what he's giving us. Rosco [Allen] today played really well for us. It's great to see guys, when someone goes down, their opportunity is there and you prepare for your opportunity. So far when guys have gone down for us with Aaron and Anthony, we've had guys step up and give us something. I'm really proud of them for that because they're taking on new roles and they've done a good job of that for us."
Junior Josh Huestis
"[Seattle] is a good team. We can't look past teams like this. These are dangerous teams. We knew going in they are a real scrappy team, and they kept us moving, they kept us going to the very end. We've got to expect that coming into games like this. I think it really showed how much our team has come along, to be able to grind out this win despite the ups and downs throughout whole game. I don't know how long it took us to hold the lead but it just shows that we can't get down. We're going to learn from this, we're going to get better so we can prepare for the next game."
"That's what we try to make our living off- defense. We want to be one of the best defensive teams in the country. Shots aren't going to fall every night but defense can be there, so tonight we held them to 57 points, which is great. Guys got after it. We really dug in defensively and that helped us grind out this win."
"Shots aren't falling right now like we want them to, but we can't look at that. Those things are out of our control. We've got to take the shots we're given. Guys are getting to the gym, getting shots up, so the fact that we're able to get a win here despite winning badly means we're going to be a real dangerous team down the road when shots are falling for us."
Senior Andy Brown
"I'm just trying to go out there and play as hard as I can. I've been out for the last two and a half years with my knee surgeries, and I kind of have the motto now, `Don't take anything for granted, because you might not get another chance to play.' I just try to be aggressive. The coaches tell me to do that all the time. It turned out that I was hitting shots today, hitting the boards pretty hard and it just worked out for me."
Seattle Head Coach Cameron Dollar
"You know what, you've got to credit them. They've been in some battles, even before our game. Obviously Belmont here, then they go to the Bahamas, where they had three tough games. They were probably a little more ready for a battle down to the finish than we were at this point. I give them the credit for finishing."
"We had some looks, we had some chances, we didn't make them. They got some easier ones and were able to get to the free-throw line. Just like you credit them for finishing, you can credit us for that. We're inexperienced in some areas, but we have some talent. I thought our guys came out and showed that. I give credit also to our guards for passing it well and getting it in there."
"I would say it's more about game experience. Some of my key guys being counted on to score down the stretch haven't done it yet. They're going to be able to do it, but they weren't quite ready to finish it today. Game-testing -- that's a really good way to put it."