Feb. 9, 2013
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Dwight Powell scored 22 points, Stanford made 10 of 18 3-pointers and the Cardinal held on to beat Arizona State 62-59 Saturday night.
Stanford (15-9, 6-5 Pac 12) won for the fourth time in five games, and sixth straight over Arizona State, earning a split in the desert after losing 73-66 at No. 7 Arizona Wednesday night.
Josh Huestis added 13 points and John Gage scored all 11 of his points in the first half for Stanford.
Carrick Felix scored 16, Jahii Carson 15 and Jonathan Gilling 13 for Arizona State (18-6, 7-4).
The Sun Devils trailed by as many as 16 in the second half but had a chance to tie at the end, Bo Barnes' 3-pointer bouncing off the rim with five seconds to play.
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Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
"Our guys have really gained a lot of confidence shooting the basketball, and it was probably our best shooting performance for a half. I think everyone was hitting shots. Everyone was hitting three's and tough two's, and I think that helped us gain a lot of momentum. Give Arizona State credit; they fought back and they're a really good team. They made some adjustments and really made a good run in the second half. They went smaller, so we went inside more. That's when Dwight (Powell) was really able to get some more touches near the basket and run our offense from there."
"I was really proud of our guys. I was worried, because the Arizona loss was tough. I thought we played a great game in Arizona for 36 minutes, and as you know, it's a 40-minute game. They were able to win the game, and you wonder how your guys are going to respond after investing so much. Our kids fought back and showed some resilience. They played a great game the next night."
"We talked about it earlier in the season--we have good shooters. I anticipated going into the season with two of my shooters almost shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc. John Gage is a really good shooter, as you know. Dwight (Powell) is a capable shooter, as well as Josh (Huestis). I assumed we would be a terrific three-point shooting team, but it just didn't happen to start the season. I think teams really ramped up to defend us, so we got off to a slow start shooting the ball. I think our guys kind of let it get in their heads."
Arizona State Head Coach Herb Sendek
"Eventually, in order to get back in the game, we went small ball and made a flurry. We really had some opportunities with some open looks, looking back. They may have put us in an even better position to win. I thought that that matchup along the front line was difficult for us. I thought we had some trouble turning our preparation into execution. A couple of things we wanted to do defensively in the first half, as well as early in the second half, from a scouting standpoint, we let get away from us. It resulted in some three-point shots, and ultimately every mistake we made, Stanford made us pay by shooting 10-18 from three. In a close game, which seems like every game we play is close, we just didn't give ourselves any breathing room with our free throw shooting once again, going 8-16. That's hard to overcome."
"Stanford is the number one three-point shooting team in our league. They're a very physical, aggressive team. I think they're outstanding. I really do. I think they're a really good team, and they present some real matchup problems, not only for us but for many of their opponents."
"We weren't getting any benefit on offense from (going big), and defensively we were having a hard time with our bigs out on the perimeter guarding. We tried to match up with them a little better by going small ball with about 14 minutes left in the game. I think it helped us close the gap."