by Jerry Feitelberg

photo courtesy of Google Images also main page AP photo Stanford’s Christian Sanders (1) and Michael Humphrey (right) congratulate each other in second half of game vs. Oregon Ducks on Saturday night

What a turnaround for the Stanford Cardinal. After a loss Thursday night to the Oregon State Beavers, the Cardinal had to face the Oregon Ducks Saturday afternoon at Maples Pavilion. The Ducks entered the game ranked twelfth or thirteen in the nation with a record of 20-5 and were 9-3 in conference play, good enough for first place. the Cardinal had lost four in a row, and their record was a mediocre 11-11. Who would have thought they could upset the Ducks. That, however, is exactly what the Cardinal did as they sent the vaunted University of Oregon Ducks down to defeat 76-72. It was the Rosco Allen show on Saturday as the big six-nine senior, born in Budapest, Hungary, scored twenty-five in the win. Dorian Pickens had a great game, too. Pickens scored sixteen and had two important three-point shots in the contest. Forward Grant Verhoeven, starting the game Saturday, continued his excellent play. Verhoeven, relegated to the bench for most of the season, scored a career-high thirteen points. The Cardinal played solid defense all throughout the game and defense won it for them late in the second half.

The Cardinal ended the first half with a four-point lead over the nationally-ranked Ducks. The play was fairly even in the early going as neither team could take advantage of the other teams miscues. Oregon led 26-25 with under three minutes left in the half. Stanford went on a 7-0 run. Dorian Pickens made a three-point shot and Grant Verhoeven, and Rosco Allen made layups that put the Cardinal ahead by six points. Oregon cut the deficit to two when guard Tyler Dorsey scored with just two seconds left in the half.  Rosco Allen led the Cardinal scorers with fourteen. Teammate Dorian Pickens added six. The Ducks’ Tyler Dorsey had eight and Dillon Brooks pitched in with six. The Cardinal shot 44% from the floor while the Ducks were at 43%. The Cardinal made six out of eight three-point shots. Oregon tried eleven but made just three. The Cardinal outrebounded the Ducks 18-13. The Ducks big man, six-foot-ten-inch Chris Boucher scored just three points and had to leave the game late in the first half as he committed three fouls. Stanford leads 32-28.

Both teams played a much better second half. Stanford led most of the way. The Cardinal increased the lead to eleven with just 4:54 left in the game. The Ducks refused to quit and somehow were able to tie the game at seventy-two. Rosco Allen made a free throw to put Stanford ahead by one with less than a minute to play. The Ducks’ Dillon Brooks missed a jumper with fourteen seconds left. The Ducks fouled Marcus Allen on the rebound. He made one free throw. Stanford leads by two points. Stanford blocked Dillon Brooks shot. Had Brooks made the shot, the game would have been tied. Marcus Allen was fouled again and this time, he made both free throws to salt the game away for Stanford. The Ducks trailed by four and even if they made a three-point shot, it would not keep them from going down to defeat.

Game notes- Rosco Allen, Grant Verhoeven, Dorian Pickens were the scoring leaders for the Cardinal Saturday. Marcus Allen made three critical free throws late in the game to secure the win. Scoring leaders for the Ducks were Dillon Brooks with twenty-four, Tyler Dorsey with fourteen and Elgin Cook with eleven.

Stanford is off to Pullman to face the Washington State Cougars on Thursday and then to Seattle to face the University of Washington Huskies on Saturday. The Cardinal play the USC Trojans at home on February 26th then play the UCLA Bruins on the 28th at Maples.

Attendance was 5462.