Jan. 19, 2013
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STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - Dwight Powell scored 17 points and grabbed nine rebounds, insisting that his performance was a product of a teammate who provided an energizing lift offensively.
Chasson Randle added 15 points and John Gage came off the bench to score 14, hitting four 3-pointers, in helping Stanford beat California 69-59 Saturday.
"John gave us a huge lift," Powell said. "He gets us going and we feed off his energy."
Powell had a point. Gage entered the game with the Cardinal (11-7, 2-3 Pac-12) down by six. He immediately hit a 3-pointer and sparked a run that gave Stanford the lead for good.
"We've been missing that third guy coming in and getting double digits," Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "John stepped up and found openings in their defense. He can stretch defenses."
Josh Huestis had 12 rebounds to go with nine points for the Cardinal, which had lost three of its previous four.
Allen Crabbe and David Kravish each scored 14 points to lead the Bears (10-7, 2-3 Pac-12), who have lost four of their last six. Justin Cobbs added 13 points.
"Stanford made their free throws and that made it tough on us," Kravish said. "For me it was a frustrating game."
Kravish also had nine rebounds before fouling out with 1:40 remaining to play.
Crabbe, the Pac-12's leading scorer, probably felt the same way. He was held to six points under his season average.
"It's nothing new," he said. "I just have to find other ways to get my teammates involved when the ball is not going."
Crabbe was limited to four shots in the first half, but returned to score 12 of his points following halftime and help the Bears rally.
California drew within 43-42 with 13:20 left to play on a Crabbe jumper but Randle came up with a steal and layup to swing momentum back to the Cardinal, who eventually built a 13-point lead.
"To turn the ball over is one thing, but when it leads to points like that, it's like a knife," California head coach Mike Montgomery said. "It was a bad play at a bad time."
Stanford's Aaron Bright, 0-6 from the field, sank both his foul shots and has made 26 in a row.
"It's been a while since he's seen the ball go in," Dawkins said. "I told him to keep taking those shots, because they're going to go."
Gage hit one of his three 3-pointers with 7:07 remaining to play in the first half to put the Cardinal ahead.
Stanford outscored California 20-8 over the final nine minutes of the first half to take 37-29 advantage into the intermission.
- by Rick Eymer, Associated Press
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NOTES: Stanford has defeated California in five of the last six games played at Maples Pavilion ... Dwight Powell scored a team-high 17 points despite shooting 4-12. However, he was 9-9 from the free throw line and nearly missed a double-double by snagging nine rebounds ... Josh Huestis contributed 12 rebounds, representing the seventh time this year he has totaled 10+ boards in a game. Huestis is now averaging 9.2 rebounds ... Since being held scoreless for the first time in his career on Jan. 3 at USC, Chasson Randle is averaging 16.0 points over the last four games while shooting 48.0 percent ... Aaron Bright has misfired on his last 11 field goal attempts, but has made 26 consecutive free throws dating back to Nov. 15 ... John Gage established career-high totals in points (14) and three-pointers (4) ... Stanford was 25-31 from the foul line compared to Cal's 11-15 mark ... The Cardinal was 19-53 from the field. The last time Stanford won a game despite making less than 20 field goals was Dec. 31, 2011, when the Cardinal was 18-44 in a 51-43 victory over USC ... Rosco Allen made the most of his minutes, grabbing a season-high seven rebounds while adding six points ... Stanford next plays at Colorado on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 7 p.m. PT on ESPNU.
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QUOTES
Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"It's always a great game whenever you're facing your rival. I think both teams really get up for it. And I thought today was no exception. We were fortunate to come out with the win. I thought our guys, really especially in the second half, stepped up and made a lot of winning plays that put us in position to be successful."
"I think we've been shooting free throws well this season and I was happy that the guys went to the line. Like Dwight Powell, who has stepped up this year and shot a very good percentage, we're fortunate to get those guys on the free throw line. But I think it's the way we're able to get the free throws. I thought our kids did a good job to play with some aggression. We attacked the basket well, got the ball inside, and put ourselves in position to be fouled, and thought that worked out well for us."
"You're not going to stop Allen (Crabbe). He's a terrific player, one of the best players in our league of course. And I really just challenged Andy Brown to defend him. Of course he had help, but at the end of the day just taking that challenge on and being a veteran and saying, `Hey, I'm going to try to limit his touches as much as possible,' I thought that was good for us, and everyone I thought executed the gameplan well."
"I thought our bench was huge, and I'm really proud of John Gage because he really stepped up. He found some openings in their defense, and our guys did a good job of finding him. Our entire bench was good. I thought our guys, everyone that came into the game, gave us great contributions. And we expect John to take those shots. John's a shooter for us, he stretches defenses and he did it tonight. I also thought Rosco was terrific. Gabe came in and gave us some senior minutes."
"You know what, to be quite frank, I thought it would be a tough game defensively. Both teams, the way they would want to win this game, being against your rival, you always anticipate guys ramping it up defensively. As hard as they play, every possession is going to be challenged, and you have to make plays in difficult situations, which can hurt percentages. That's what happened tonight."
"Josh Huestis had six offensive rebounds, and down the stretch he hit one of the biggest shots for us where we penetrated, were able to throw it back out to him and he knocked down like a 17 or 18-footer. And of course, he went to the line and made some big, big free throws as well. So I'm really proud of what he did for us. He gave us a great lift in the second half."
Stanford Forward Dwight Powell
"I mean, it was a tremendous lift. Not just scoring. But John Gage's threes are worth a lot for our team. It really gets us going, especially when he gets it going. We just feed off his energy and it's good for the whole team."
"We just came out with a defensive-minded game and tried to just be as tough as we could and make the little plays down the stretch and try to stop them. Try to take away what they want to do as much as possible. I mean, they're a good team so they still managed to get a lot of the stuff they wanted, but we tried to reduce that as much as possible."
"I tried to get him (Richard Solomon) off his feet with the pump fake. He's a great shot-blocker, so I knew it would be a tricky shot. Coming down at the end of the shot clock, he knew I was going to shoot it. So fortunately for me he jumped. Any time you get a chance to get to the line, if you knock it down, it's a momentum booster for our team, so it was a good moment."
"We still have the same goals we had in the beginning of the year. That's to finish as high as possible in the Pac-12 and try to make the NCAA Tournament, so we're not worried. We're just trying to play our best basketball that's possible, and come in and try to win every individual game, so we've got one more for now."
Stanford Guard Chasson Randle
"First of all, I want to thank Andy Brown for doing a great job defensively. Also, I thought our team defense was good tonight. We tried to make it a tough night for Crabbe and I think we succeeded a little bit. He's a great player, and I'm sure he'll bounce back strong."
"I thought we were all determined tonight. We came out focused and ready to fight. Guys knew how big of a game this was for us, and we showed it tonight."
"Any time you lose in the conference, especially at home, it can hurt you. But like I said, tonight was one of those games where we were really determined to come out and get the win. And we did it."
"I feel like any time we play Cal, it's always one of those grind-it-out games, where it's physical and guys are playing their hearts out. It showed tonight. Hopefully we can shoot the ball better, but we're not worried about it. We're just happy with the result tonight."
California Head Coach Mike Montgomery
"It would have been nice to have 26 points off the bench (Stanford bench outscored California 26-3). We can't make excuses. We just don't have a lot of flexibility. I can't make adjustments, I can't rotate people, I can't get much production. It puts a lot of pressure on us. If I wanted to rest Allen (Crabbe), I can't really do it. I have to have him on the floor. We're missing some toughness, we're missing some intelligence and we're missing some fundamentals."
"I don't think Stanford is particularly physical. It's obvious we're not very physical. I'm going to have to go back and review what a foul is and what isn't because there are some things that I don't understand, frankly, on what the contact is and how it differentiates itself. You have to play through that."
"My feelings have always been that if you really want to take a guy out of a game, you can. What has to happen is that you make them pay with other people. At some point, we have to get production in the paint (Cal was 15-52 inside the 3-point arc). We have to rebound the ball and get to the foul line, all of it. We're just struggling with it."
"Some of that switching they were doing was putting big people on guards. At some point, when you have Andy Brown guarding you, who's had three ACL surgeries, you should be able to beat him at the point of attack, is my guess. Andy Brown did a good job defensively, mostly on Crabbe."
California Guard Allen Crabbe
"Today was just like every other team. They're going to take me out of the game and they're going to find ways to get me frustrated. It's nothing new. They tag me on the screens, don't let me get anything easy. They did a good job in the first half, I guess."
"Everywhere you go there's another defender trying to help. I just have to find other ways, you know, to get my teammates involved. It's not going to go down every night. I just have to find other ways to make it easier for myself."