By Jeremy Harness

Once again, Stanford is making a deep run in a postseason tournament.

The Cardinal, one year removed from their improbable trek into the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, are making the most of their opportunity this season, even though they are not in the Big Dance.

They moved on to the semifinal round of the NIT tournament Tuesday night by beating Vanderbilt, 78-75, at Maples Pavilion. Stanford will move on to New York’s Madison Square Garden and face Old Dominion, who defeated Murray State in their own quarterfinal Wednesday night.

Anthony Brown, who has made huge strides this season, led the Cardinal with a season-high 26 points while making nine of his 15 shots from the field and also pulled down eight rebounds to help keep Stanford’s season going.

Meanwhile, Chasson Randle, who was Stanford’s leading scorer this year, chipped in with 16 points on six-of-15 shooting, while Stefan Nastic had 12 points and seven rebounds.

Vanderbilt, however, kept the game close with its 3-point shooting in the second half, and the Commodores actually had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds. However, freshman Matthew Fisher-Davis, who had hit a 3-pointer with 28.8 seconds left to narrow Stanford’s lead to 77-75, misfired on a deep 3, and Stanford escaped with the victory.

The Cardinal are slated to play in the semifinal game on Tuesday, while Miami will play Temple, who routed Louisiana Tech in their quarterfinal Wednesday night.

The last time the Cardinal was in the NIT, they won the entire thing in 2012.