by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford beats Houston in Brooklyn

The Stanford Cardinal traveled all the way across the country to meet the Houston Cougars in the second round of the Progressive Legends semi-final game of the tournament in Brooklyn at the Barclay Center. The winner of the game will meet the University of Pittsburgh for the title Tuesday night. Prior to the game, Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins said that he is “happy the way way we run the offense” and that Houston is “ a well-coached team and that they they use a lot of multiple defenses.” The first half of the game was

even after 20 minutes of play but the Cardinal owned the second half and beat Houston 86-76.

The play in the first half was very fast but scoring was at a premium. Houston had a two point lead with 10:30 left in the half but both teams started to score in the second half of the first period.

Houston went on a 15-4 run to take a 28-19 lead but the Cardinal came back with a 9-0 run of their own and the score was at 32 at the end of the first half. Anthony Brown was the scoring leader for Stanford with 11 points and Houston’s TaShawn Thomas put in 10 for the Cougars and had 11 rebounds.

Houston scored 13 points on turnovers while the best Stanford could get was just 3 on Houston mistakes.

Stanford came to life in the second half. Led by Dwight Powell, Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic, The Cardinal was able to take a 10 point lead with7:50 left to play in the game. Houston went to an full court press but Stanford met the challenge. Houston did creep to within seven as Stanford was in foul trouble early in the second half. Houston made eleven free throws in a row to get back in the game but Anthony Brown made a big bucket with just 1:56 left in the game. Houston kept fouling Stanford but it was not enough as the Cardinal won the game 86-76.

Game notes- Stanford is now 5-1 for the season while Houston ,with the loss, drops to 5-1.

Stanford Forward, Josh Huestis, also had a strong game for the Cardinal as he was in double digits in scoring and rebounding. Huestis is also the front runner for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year., Huestis is averaging 11.2 and 7.8 rebounds per game and is hoping to be the first Cardinal to average a double-double- since Curtis Borchard in 2001-2002.

It was the fourth meeting ever between the two teams and with the win Stanford and Houston each have two wins.