STANFORD, Calif. – As Stanford celebrated its senior class, Benny Gealer put on a show in his last regular season contest at Maples Pavilion. Gealer scored a career-high 30 points as Stanford throttled SMU, 95-75, on Saturday afternoon.
Gealer’s 30 points came with a career-high seven 3-pointers as well as four rebounds and a career-high six steals. He is the first player at any school, nationally, to score 30 points with 7 3-pointers and six steals against a major conference opponent in at least 20 years. He is the first Stanford player to record at least six steals in a game since Chasson Randle had six on March 23, 2014 and the first Stanford player to make seven or more 3-pointers since Spencer Jones had eight on Jan. 20, 2024.
Ebuka Okorie, who entered the night as the ACC’s leading scorer, finished with 22 points, six assists and two steals, against only one turnover. Okorie passed Adam Keefe for 13th on Stanford’s single-season scoring list, with 614, becoming the 13th player in Stanford history to reach 600 points in a season. The dynamic freshman also passed Todd Lichti, Randle, and Keith Jones for sixth on Stanford’s single-season free throws list, with 175.
Aidan Cammann finished in double figures for a career-best fourth consecutive game, ending with 15 points, six rebounds and a career-high tying four assists. AJ Rohosy added eight points and a team-high seven rebounds while Ryan Agarwal and Jeremy Dent-Smith scored six points apiece.
Stanford shot 51 percent from the floor as a team and 51.9 percent from beyond the arc, with its 14 3-pointers as a team tied for the second most this season. Stanford went 29-for-32 at the free throw line, with the 90.6 percent mark the second best for Stanford in the past 20 years with at least 30 attempts, trailing only the 31-for-34 mark against Arizona State on Jan. 30, 2021.
The Cardinal nearly led wire-to-wire, only trailing at 2-0 and 4-2 in the first half. Gealer scored 12 of his 30 points before the intermission, making four 3-pointers. Three points apiece from Donavin Young, Gealer, Cammann and Agarwal keyed a 12-2 run midway through the frame, giving Stanford a 32-20 lead with 2:55 to go, and Stanford led at the half, 34-27.
Stanford scored 61 points in the second half, marking its most in a period since Nov. 9, 2007 when it had 63 in the first half against Harvard. SMU (19-10, 8-8 ACC) cut the deficit as low as six points with 11:24 to play, but Stanford erupted for a 19-4 run to take a 21-point lead, 72-51, with 7:50 to go. Stanford led by as many as 23 points with 38 seconds to go as Ethan Kitch made a 3-pointer for his first-career points.
Stanford improves to 4-3 all-time against SMU with its second win a row, each on Senior Day at Maples Pavilion. Prior to the game the Cardinal honored its senior class – academic and athletic years included – of Gealer, Agarwal, Dent-Smith, Rohosy, Chisom Okpara and Jaylen Thompson.
The Cardinal caps its regular season with its final two-game road trip, beginning at Notre Dame on Wednesday, March 4 at 6 p.m. PT. The contest will be broadcast on ESPNU.