By Matthew T.F. Harrington

STANFORD, Calif. — Chasson Randle and the Stanford Cardinal live to see another day, topping the University of Rhode Island Rams 74-65 Sunday night to advance to the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Tournament.

Randle, a senior playing in a do-or-die contest to keep his days in cardinal alive, scored a career-high 35 points to lead his team to victory. With his career-best night, Randle moved to 2,310 career scorers, nine shy of Adam Keefe’s 2,319 for second-best in school history. Randle is 26 shy of matching the school record set by Todd Lichti from 1985-189.

“I just want to keep winning to be real,” said Randle. “It’d be a great achievement, to be the all-time leading scorer but I just want to go out on the right note with this team. We didn’t achieve what we wanted to, to make the NCAA tournament but we’re granted an opportunity here in the NIT.”

It was a opportunity all the more significant because Randle’s father was in attendance at Maples Pavilion.

“My dad was here tonight,” said Randle. “So for him to be here and see that is special to me. Over the course of my career he’s probably been to 3-4 home games a year.”

The guard started the game red-hot, netting the first seven points of the game while hitting three-straight field goals. The Pac-12 All First-Teamer ultimately hit 9 of 16 shots total over 39 minutes, picking up three steals and four rebounds along the way.

“My teammates told me stay aggressive from the beginning,” said Randle. “I just tried to follow their advice. They told me they were going to lean on me. I just tried to will them to a win.”

Randle, one of the nation’s best free-throw shooters, also went 15-for-19 from the charity stripe.

“I’m kind of upset I missed those four free throws,” said Randle with a smile.

Fellow seniors Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic scored 16 and 7 points respectively while Nastic pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds. As a team, Stanford hit 34 percent of shots, sinking 18 of 53 attempts. The Cardinal went 2-13 from beyond the three-point line.

“Last game we shot pretty well from three, in this game we didn’t,” said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. “For the year we’re shooting over 38 percent from the three-point line which means we’re top-50 from beyond the arc so I never really worry about our ability to shoot the ball.”

Sophomore guard E.C. Matthews, a burgeoning star in the Atlantic 10, topped the Rams (23-10) with 23 points. Fellow southpaw sophomore Hassan Martin pitched in 16.

“I love his team,” said Dawkins of Rhode Island coach Dan Hurley’s squad. “I think he has a very good team. They’re young but they’re very talented. Both of those kids will be high-level players, not just in college. I think they have the chance to play at the next level.”

In total, both teams committed 56 fouls combined Sunday. The final total was aided mightily by Rhode Island’s 35.

“It was going to be a physical game,” said Dawkins. “I watched a lot of tape (of Rhode Island). They’re a very physical team. They’ve been successful with that brand of basketball. I know our guys would really focus and concentrate.”

Randle was the recipient of one of the contest’s nastier fouls when Rhode Island guard Jarvis Garrett delivered an elbow to his head with 4:33 left to play. “I’m not sure,” said Randle when asked if he thought the elbow was accidental.

Second-seeded Stanford (21-13) never trailed in the contest after building the 7-0 lead, but the Rams did keep the contest close. They scored 7 of the next 8 points to pull within one of their host. Stanford then went on a 23-14 run to build a game-high 13-point lead at 31-18. Over the final two minutes of the half, Rhode Island scored nine points while shutting out Stanford to head into the half down by only four at 31-27.

Stanford, aided by 35 trips to the charity stripe in the second half, once again built up the 13 point lead with just over a minute left in regulation. In total the Cardinal outscored the Rams 43-38 in the second half for the final 74-65 margin. The previous three contests between these two teams, all won by Stanford, were decided by five points combined.

By virtue of the victory and a first-round upset of top-seeded Colorado State, the Cardinal receives the privilege of a third-straight playoff contest at Maples Pavilion.

“It’s gratifying because we don’t have to travel,” said Randle. “We’re not on the road, we can sleep in our own beds. We’re fortunate enough to stay here.”

Stanford will welcome fifth-seeded Vanderbilt Tuesday night, with the winner advancing to a semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

Vanderbilt upset the no. 4 team St. Mary’s in Moraga to open the tournament then toppled the eight seed South Dakota State 92-77.

“I don’t know much about Vanderbilt at this moment,” said Dawkins. “I’ll spend lots of time when I leave here studying them, but I can’t say anything. I haven’t watched them play once this year. I’ll look at them starting tonight and study up on them. I know (Vanderbilt coach Kevin) Stallings does a great job. He’ll have some talented players ready to compete when they come in here.”

For Dawkins, the same will hopefully be said of his team Tuesday as they seek a second NIT title in five years after winning in 2012.

“The thing I saw in that team that I still see in this team,” said Dawkins. “They’re not ready for the season to be over.”