By Matthew T.F. Harrington
AP photo: Stanford’s Dorian Pickens who scored a team leading 25 points goes for the bucket against USC on Thursday night at Maples Pavilion
STANFORD, Calif. – The Cardinal needed a win over visiting USC Thursday night to avoid slipping further towards the also-rans in the Pac-12 standings. Stanford received that win in emphatic fashion, running away with an 84-64 decision over the Trojans at Maples Pavilion. The Cardinal have now won 4 of its last 5 contests.
Dorian Pickens was the star of the night, leading the Cardinal (14-12, 7-8 Pac-12) with 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting coming off the bench, hitting 5 three-pointers. The sophomore guard nearly missed out on a career high in points….after just one half Thursday. Pickens had 22 points, two off his career best, over the first 20 minutes.
“It’s nice to see a young player score 20 points in half,” said Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins. “He really had it going.”
The super-sub led the charge that turned a seesaw contest into a commanding lead by the intermission.
“He’s done a good job coming in to games,” said Dawkins. “We saw him do this when he starts too. It’s a natural maturation process for him.
“It makes no difference to me,” said Pickens on the difference between coming off the bench and starting, something he has done often this season. “The only thing is I’m on the court when the ball’s tipped off. Whenever I do come into the game I have the same mindset, be aggressive, shoot my shots.”
Pickens cracked his previous game-best 24 points against Texas earlier in the year by scoring 3 points in the 2nd half.
“What I liked about him most was he took one shot in the second half,” said Dawkins. “As well as he was playing, he was still getting his teammates involved. He never forced his shots. That’s the sign of a mature player, a guy who understands the game.”
Neither team looked particularly sharp over the opening 5 minutes, going a combined 3 for 13 from the field for a Stanford lead at just 5-3. The two teams would trade leads 4 times over the next 4 minutes, finding Stanford ahead 18-16 with 11 minutes in regulation.
The Cardinal scored the next 8 points unanswered to lead by 10 and held USC to only 9 points over the final 10 minutes while scoring a blistering 17 points of their own to lead 43. Stanford held USC (19-9, 8-7) to 7 for 27 shooting (25.9%) over the first half to lead 43-25.
While the Trojans improved from the field in the 2nd half, the Cardinal did as well. USC hit 16 of 27 shots while the Cardinal drained 14 buckets to maintain the grip on its lead. The hosts never saw their lead dip below 18.
“Defense was everything in the second half,” said Marcus Allen after his team allowed a season-low in points for USC.
Marcus Allen scored 15 for Stanford. Rosco Allen struggled in the first half going pointless but 4 for 6 from the field and 7 for 8 from the free throw line in the 2nd for 17 points. He missed most of the first half after falling into foul trouble early.
“I didn’t expect Rosco to sit out most of the first half,” said Dawkins with a laugh. “That was difficult. But I was proud of Rosco. When he did play in the second half he was very productive. For a young player to play 3,4,5 minutes in the first half and score 0, come back and score 17 in the second half says a lot about where his game is at.”
“It’s a next man up type of thing,” said Marcus Allen on Rosco’s absence. “He had two fouls which put him in a tough spot. Guys like myself, (Dorian) everyone stepped up. We came together and split our game.”
After toppling USC to pull within a win of 5th place in the conference standings, the Cardinal now get the chance to distance themselves from 10th place UCLA Saturday night. The Cardinal welcome the Bruins to Maples one win ahead of its SoCal foe in the playoff picture with 3 games left to play. Saturday’s match-up marks the final home game for Stanford before wrapping up conference play with a pair on the road then heading to Las Vegas for the Pac-12 tournament.
“We’re taking it one game at a time,” said Dawkins. “All we’re focused on now is our next opponent. But we want to have a winning record in conference.”
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