By Morris Phillips

Of the various storylines entering the meeting of UC Davis and Stanford in the NIT on Tuesday, Marcus Allen’s had to be among the least.

First, there was senior guard Chasson Randle, attempting to put the finishing touches on his career at Stanford, universally hailed as quietly one of the best in the history of the Pac-12.  Could Randle eventually catch Todd Lichti and Adam Keefe at the top of the school’s career scoring list by leading the Cardinal on a deep run in March Madness’ secondary tournament?

And could Coach Johnny Dawkins coax a focused effort out of his bunch in a half-empty Maples Pavilion, loudly populated by UC Davis fans that had very determinedly made the two-hour drive to the game through mid-week, commuter traffic?  Stanford finished its season with losses in eight of 12 games to turn a certain, second straight trip to the NCAA tournament into a pumpkin of a NIT bid.  Historically, success in the NIT hinges on whether a team is engaged and desirous of the opportunity to continue to compete.

Also, UC Davis’ Corey Hawkins was competing for the final time opposite Dawkins, his godfather and a teammate of Hawkins’ father, Hersey, in the NBA.  The first four meetings didn’t go well with Hawkins missing a combined 23 of 28 shots in a pair of lopsided Stanford victories over UC Davis as well as a pair of games between Stanford and Arizona State, Hawkins’ home in his freshman season.  But with Hawkins’ father in attendance on Tuesday, the Big West Player of the Year figured to have a much better showing in what could be his final appearance as a collegian.

Piggybacking that storyline was the basketball conclusion of the full circle relationship between Corey, Hersey and Jim Les and his son, Tyler.  Jim Les and Hersey Hawkins comprised Bradley University’s heralded backcourt for the 1986 team that went 32-3 and won a game in the NCAA tournament.  Les, UC Davis’ head coach in his second season, inherited a team last season that already included Tyler, and soon thereafter added Corey, a transfer from Arizona State.

Still with all that going on–most significantly the presences of the high-scoring Hawkins and Randle–Stanford sophomore Allen stole the show.

Allen, presumed to be Randle’s heir apparent in Stanford’s backcourt of the future, scored a career-best 22 points in Stanford’s 77-64 win that sends them to NIT’s second round.  The Aggies’ turnaround season ended that saw them go 14-2 in the Big West only to lose in the semis of their conference tournament.  Meanwhile, Stanford advances to host Rhode Island on Friday or Saturday at Maples Pavilion.

“For our guys to bounce back from a tough loss and play the way we played—I’m just really proud of their character,” Dawkins said.  “I thought they really stepped up and showed how much they want to be in this tournament and how much they want to compete.”

“For us to win the game, we didn’t have to be perfect, but we had to be close to perfect as possible,” Jim Les said.  “We had some opportunities, some missed shots that we normally make that we didn’t make.  We had some defensive miscues that we made that we can’t afford to make against a good team that’s going to take advantage.”

Despite the presence of the Aggies’ numerous supporters, Stanford jumped out to an early lead, led by Allen and Randle.  The Cardinal took their first double-digit lead less than eight minutes in, and led 30-19 with 6:10 remaining before halftime.  The Aggies made a run at that point, with Tyler Les’ 3-pointer tying the game at 30 with 3:35 remaining.

Allen picked Stanford up to start the second half, scoring a trio of buckets in a run that put the Cardinal up 46-38 with 16:53 remaining.  At that point, Allen had already surpassed his previous career-best 14 points achieved March 1 against Oregon.  Allen made 10 of 12 shots on the evening.

Stanford, using their superior size and quickness in spreading the floor to create driving lanes to the bucket, extended their lead to 57-42 with 11:50 remaining.

Hawkins, who came in averaging 20.4 points a game while shooting 49 percent from three, finally posted decent numbers against Dawkins and Stanford.  He finished with 34 on 12 of 22 shooting, but most of it came after Stanford jumped out to their early lead and then surged after halftime.

“I told myself I finally wanted to play well against my godfather,” Hawkins said.  “I’ve come here a couple of times and haven’t played that well, so I told myself to go out and be aggressive.  I feel like I can compete with anybody.”

The Aggies fell in their first Division I post-season appearance in school history.  While the loss was disappointing, it doesn’t diminish UC Davis’ big turnaround season that saw them finish 25-7 one year after they were 9-22 in an injury-marred campaign.

The NIT is experimenting with a 30-second shot clock reduced from the standard 35 seconds and that helped Stanford speed up the more methodical Aggies.  Also, Stanford kept UC Davis from getting hot from distance where they missed their first five attempts and finished 9 of 24.