PALM DESERT, Calif. – Benny Gealer only needed a fraction of a second to catch and shoot in the corner, drilling a rainbow 3-pointer with 0.8 seconds remaining to give Stanford a 78-77 victory over Saint Louis. Win the win, Stanford won the Acrisure Invitational Championship for its first multi-team event title since the 2007 Basketball Travelers Classic.
Gealer’s heroic shot came after Ebuka Okorie was fouled with Stanford trailing by three points in the closing seconds. Okorie made the first free throw and missed the second intentionally, with AJ Rohosy securing the offensive rebound and finding Gealer for the game-winner.
Chisom Okpara led four Cardinal player in double figure with 19 points, to go with six rebounds, while Okorie tallied 17 with six assists, against no turnovers. Jeremy Dent-Smith scored 12 points with five rebounds, making four 3-pointers, while AJ Rohosy had 11 points and a season-high nine rebounds. Oskar Giltay grabbed a career-high seven rebounds, while Ryan Agarwal and Aidan Cammann scored eight points apiece. Stanford made a season-high 13 -pointers.
Despite the jubilant finish, Stanford got out to a slow start in the first half, trailing by as many as 15 points, 28-13, with 8:13 to go in the opening period. The Cardinal responded with an 11-2 run to close within six, 30-24, with Cammann and Okorie making 3-pointers, and it trailed at the break, 47-36, after a last-second triple from Okpara.
Stanford opened up the second half on a strong note, cutting the Saint Louis lead to just one, 55-54, with 8:56 to go. Just over 90 seconds later, Stanford tied the game at 60 apiece after back-to-back triples from Dent-Smith, who later gave Stanford the lead, 65-62, with his third three of the half. Dent-Smith and Agarwal made late 3-pointers in the final 1:28, helping to set up the final sequence that ended in the Gealer moonshot.
Stanford improves to 3-0 all-time against the Billikens (6-1).
The Cardinal returns to Maples Pavilion as it hosts Portland on Monday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.