By: Ben Leonard
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photo credit: sfgate.com Stanford’s point guard Roscoe Allen

STANFORD, Calif.–When you come to Stanford, you know you’re committing to a standard of academic excellence. And that means you have to sacrifice playing games during finals week, or turning in a 14-page paper at noon on game day in point guard Christian Sanders’ case. 

After hitting the books for 15 days, the Cardinal pushed past the Dartmouth Big Green 64-50 in a battle of academic powerhouses. Rosco Allen led the way for the Cardinal, scoring 17 points and grabbing 6 rebounds, while Reid Travis also chipped in with 14 points. 

For their first game in over two weeks, the Cardinal didn’t have much rust to shake off — they jumped out to a quick 12-4 lead to start the game, and coasted from there, never trailing in the win. Even though the team didn’t play any games during that time, they had to go hard in practice, almost like it was “game week” as Reid Travis put it, and helped bring the team “back to the drawing board.”

Stanford thoroughly dominated the undersized Big Green on the offensive glass, pulling down 17 offensive boards to Dartmouth’s 11, and took it to Dartmouth in the paint, scoring 28 points in the key to Dartmouth’s 10. As Travis put it, “we start a huge lineup, all big guys that like to crash the boards. It’s always an emphasis to go after the offensive rebounds.”

The Cardinal used their height to take a commanding 37-24 halftime lead, in part fueled by the team’s 4 of 8 shooting from beyond the arc. Rosco Allen had three of those four and had another huge game after dropping 25 on Arkansas in his last game. Coach Johnny Dawkins said he was very proud of Allen, who has “started to come into his own. He’s been in an aggressive mindset. Coming in and attacking has helped to round out his game. 

But the Cardinal started to take the foot off the gas late in the second half, letting Dartmouth creep back into the game despite holding a 17 point lead with just ten minutes to play. The Big Green made it a game with five minutes to play, down just eight after Miles Wright hit a three.

Dawkins was quick to credit Dartmouth and not be disappointed in his team for the comeback — Dartmouth was “one of the grittiest teams [he’d] seen all season. They’ve been in all of their games, a testament to their ability to keep fighting. They give a heck of a 40-minute effort.

Dawkins had even shown his players an entire montage of Dartmouth players taking “charge after charge.” He was only a little disappointed that Dartmouth took two charges on his team.

After a fleeting comeback, Stanford pulled away behind some more sweet shots from Rosco Allen, including a trey that iced the game, helping Stanford take a 64-47 lead with just over a minute left.

Notes: Saturday’s game was a rematch of the 1942 NCAA championship game, when Stanford won its first and only national title…Stanford moved to 6-1 all-time against Dartmouth….The Big Green hasn’t beaten a Pac-12 team since 1971….