Dec. 30, 2012
STANFORD, Calif.- Rosco Allen became the latest freshman to step into the spotlight and produce down the stretch for Stanford.
Cardinal head coach Johnny Dawkins thinks that will help when Pac-12 play comes around next week.
Chasson Randle scored 16 points to go with four assists as Stanford beat Lafayette 65-59 on Saturday night.
Allen scored nine of his season-high 11 points in the final five minutes of the contest, helping the Cardinal (9-4) hold off the Leopards (5-10).
"This was a great win for us. We definitely needed it," Allen said. "We need to get a roll going heading into league play."
Dawkins has started 10 different players, paying particular attention to his younger players.
"What we're hoping is for guys who have been seasoned helping us as we go into conference play," Dawkins said. "I thought Rosco played well, especially in the second half when he stepped up and made plays."
Josh Huestis matched his career-high with 14 rebounds for the Cardinal, which won its fifth in six games. Dwight Powell added nine points and 11 rebounds.
The Cardinal had two players with 10 or more rebounds in the same game for the first time in nearly two years.
"I think we still have a lot to work on," Allen said. "But we're definitely catching our stride and we have a good rotation going."
Joey Ptasinski scored 17 points to lead the Leopards, who fell to 0-8 on the road. Seth Hinrichs added 16 points.
Lafayette trailed by 10 early in the second half before producing 21-9 run, highlighted by a Dan Trist layup, that gave the Leopards a 45-43 advantage with 9:03 left. But Stanford rallied and held a seven-point lead with 1:14 remaining.
Ptasinski, 5-6 from long range, hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left to pull the Leopards within 61-59, but the Cardinal made its free throws down the stretch to hang on.
"I thought we had opportunities," Leopards' head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "The game came down to a couple of possessions, a couple of rebounds that we didn't come up with and they did. I thought our guys for the most part hung in. We shot well from three and they didn't. I thought at the end of the day it was the rebounding that really hurt us, as they got second-chance opportunities and seemed to cash in on every one of them."
Stanford outrebounded Lafayette by a 46-26 margin and turned 14 offensive boards into a 16-0 advantage in second-chance points.
Two of Lafayette's top three scorers struggled with their shots. Dan Trist, a .568 percentage shooter entering the game, was 4-16 from the field and netted nine points, only the second time in his 12 games he failed to reach double figures.
Tony Jackson, the Leopards most accurate shooter coming in with a .574 percent success rate, was 2 of 9.
Ptasinski and Hinrichs picked up the slack, combining to shoot 58 percent (11 of 19), including a .750 effort (9 of 12) from long range.
"It's about making shots and we did that right away," Hinrichs said. "We were only down about eight at halftime so we were right there in the game. Toward the end we weren't able to close it out."
Stanford held a 32-24 lead at halftime.
- by Rick Eymer, Associated Press
- - - - - - - - - -
NOTES: Stanford completes non-conference play at 9-4 and travels to USC on Jan. 3 (7 p.m., ESPNU) for its Pac-12 opener ... Chasson Randle's 16 points were his most since a 21-point effort against Northern Iowa back on Nov. 23 in the Battle 4 Atlantis ... Josh Huestis (14 boards) and Dwight Powell (11 boards). It was the first time two Cardinal players totaled at least 10 rebounds since Feb. 26, 2011 at Oregon, when Powell and Josh Owens hauled down 11 apiece ... Lafayette was 11-19 from three-point territory compared to Stanford's 3-19 clip ... Entering the game, Stanford was holding opponents to only 29.4 percent shooting from beyond the arc, a mark that ranked first in the Pac-12 and 52nd in the country ... The Cardinal's biggest lead was 34-24 following a jumper from Powell with 18:18 left to play in the second half ... Stanford defeated Lafayette 80-54 in the only previous meeting back on Dec. 3, 1982, on the opening day of the Stanford Invitational.
- - - - - - - - - -
QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"It was good to get a great game in after Christmas against an opponent that came ready to play, a team that shoots the three-ball as well as anybody. Everyone on the floor can really shoot the ball so they really spread you out, and I thought ultimately our guys did a good job to hold them to 59 with the way they were shooting the basketball. I was proud of the way we defended. I really like the way Rosco Allen played, especially in the second half. I thought he did a great job, really stepped up for us, and for a young guy that can be difficult in that environment. With it being just a couple-possession lead, to make the plays he made down the stretch for us, I was real excited for Rosco."
"I was really never worried about our ability to shoot the ball because I have confidence in our guys to shoot. That's just something that will come. As long as we continue to defend, we'll always put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win and that's what we've done this preseason. I think the last three games our guys have shot it well. I think we shot it fairly well against NC State also, we just didn't win the game. We had our moments of shooting it well and we had some lapses, but coming off the Christmas break some of that is to be expected and our guys still have to continue to work and prepare for conference now."
"I'm a perfectionist when it comes to how we defend, and I was disappointed that we gave up as many looks as we did and the percentage they shot from behind the arc. That's by far the best three-point field goal shooting percentage team we've faced this year. So we have to get better in that area. It's something that we've done a good job of but you have to continuously work on that if you expect to be good at defending the three. So we have to get back in the gym and get after it."
"I think we have a chance to be a very good team. I think we're a good team now, and we have a chance to be even better and that just comes down to executing late in games. We've been in a lot of close games. I think that's helped us because learning how to win in those situations is very, very important. Especially with a league that I think could be very balanced this year. There's a lot of depth in this conference. I think, top-to-bottom, the league is better than it has been the last few years."
Stanford freshman forward Rosco Allen
"It was a great win for us. We definitely needed it. It was a good emphasis win for us going into the Pac-12 season. Now it's a must-win for us. We have to get a little bit of a roll going and coming back from Christmas break, we really needed this one. The team did great and got the win."
"Lafayette did a great job. They definitely knocked down great shots. I think they hit 11 threes, which is outstanding. We just need to work on that for next game, being able to close out better on shooters and limit that number."
"We still have a lot of things to work on, but I think we're definitely catching stride. We're just gelling a lot better each and every game, and that's a big thing for us. We have a lot of versatile guys, being able to play the point and shooting guard, even the three. That's good for me. I get to go out there, just give it my all, and know that I have a guy coming behind me who's going to give it their all, and just have a good rotation going."
Lafayette Head Coach Fran O'Hanlon
"I thought we had opportunities. Obviously the rebounding was a huge discrepancy there. But the game came down to a couple of possessions, a couple of rebounds that we didn't come up with and they did. They executed in the end. I thought our guys for the most part hung in, they got back in the game and we did some good things. Obviously we shot well from three and they didn't. I thought at the end of the day it was the rebounding that really hurt us. They got second-chance opportunities and seemed to cash in on every one of them."
"When that ball goes up in the air, we're not going to be able to out-jump them. That was the difference. And as I said, even when they didn't score off the rebounds, they kicked it back out to Bright and got runners out of that. There were a couple key plays there, the three-pointer to Randle in the corner, who we had double-teamed. The give-and-go, I think to Randle again. It was a couple of stops that we didn't come up with, and that was the game right there."
Lafayette sophomore guard Seth Hinrichs
"I thought we battled. We knew coming in that Stanford is one of the `Big Six' conference teams so we knew it was going to be a battle. We were going to have to bring a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm and I think we did that. But it's about making shots and we did that right away. We were only down about eight at halftime so we were right there in the game. Towards the end we weren't able to close it out. They're a good team and that's what good teams do."
"Three-point shooting definitely kept us in the game. It all comes down to getting penetration by Tony [Johnson], gap and kick, swing the ball, ball reversal, that's how we were able to get open. When you have open shots, Joey [Ptasinski] and I usually knock them down because we're good shooters."