AP file photo: Jerod Haase has a few words with official during UAB-UTEP game last season when he coached at UAB now the Stanford coach picked up his first win in Shanghai in the Stanford Cardinal opener against Harvard on Friday

By Jeremy Harness

It wasn’t pretty at times, but when the clock struck zero, Jerod Haase was 1-0 as Stanford’s new head coach.

The Cardinal went across the Pacific to take part in the Pac-12 China game to open the 2016-17 season and grinded out a 80-70 win over Harvard in Shanghai, China Friday night.

Reid Travis led the way for Stanford by being a real force inside, scoring 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbing 17 rebounds.

The only drawback to Travis’ game is that he was only 10-for-19 from the free-throw line, but then again, he has struggled mightily from the line during his college career, as he has shot less than 50 percent from the line.

Michael Humphrey was not very far behind him, as he scored 15 points while making five of his eight shots from the field to go along with four rebounds.

In addition, even though it did not show up entirely on the stat sheet, the Cardinal got solid play from both of their point guards. Starter Christian Sanders only scored one point, but he also handed out five assists and only turned the ball over once.

His backup, Robert Cartwright, made a triumphant return to the court on Friday after suffering a compound fracture of his right arm in practice toward the end of last season. He added five points to go along with three assists, including a beautiful feed to Grant Verhoeven off of penetration for an easy layup.

Bryce Aiken led Harvard with 21 points, but he made only five of his 15 shots to do it. Meanwhile, Siyani Chambers followed with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting to go along with four assists and three rebounds.