By Robert Steward

PALO ALTO–The Stanford Men’s Basketball team opened their 100th season Friday night with a victory over Wofford, 74-59, in the Coaches vs Cancer Classic at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal is coming off a 2013-14 season that saw them advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Terriers, out of the Southern Conference, returned all 5 starters from last season’s team that made it to the NCAA Tournament before bowing out in the first round against Michigan. It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

The first half was mainly a back-and-forth affair, with neither the Terriers or the Cardinal able to build any type of momentum until late in the half when Stanford, down by 1, 24-23, went on a 9-0 spurt as part of a 13-3 run to end the half leading 36-27. Stefan Nastic, Stanford’s 6’11” force in the middle, started strong by hitting his first five shots, en route to 14 points by the break. 6-9 Freshman Forward Reid Travis, a McDonald’s All-American, started for Stanford and is expected to get his share of playing time due to Stanford losing both Dwight Powell and Josh Heustis to the NBA. In his first collegiate performance Travis was solid, helping Stanford to an 18-11 advantage on the boards by halftime.

Wofford’s biggest player was C J Neumann at 6’7″. The lack of size was a big factor in the second half, as the Terriers simply could not contain Nastic and Travis. Stanford picked up where they left off in the first half by opening up the second half with an 8-2 run to lead, 44-29, at the 16:31 mark. They eventually built the lead to 54-34 with 13:38 left in the game. Wofford could get no closer than 12 after that and the Cardinal eventually pulled away. Coach Johnny Dawkins played his starters all the way up to 3 minutes left in the game.

Nastic was dominating in the low post and also showed that he has a nice touch from the outside for a big man by draining some jumpers as well. He led all scorers with 26 points on 11-14 from the floor and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. Travis finished with 14, while guard Anthony Brown chipped in with 16 points on 6-8 shooting. After a slow start in the first half for last season’s leading scorer, Chasson Randle, he eventually finished with 12 points but was only 4-13 shooting from the floor. The Terriers were led by Jaylen Allen, who came off the bench to score 12, followed by their two leading scorers from last season, Karl Cochran and Spencer Collins, both of whom finished with 11.

Next up the Cardinal will host South Dakota in another Coaches vs Cancer Classic on Sunday at 3pm.