gostanford.com photo: Travis Reid (22) provided some muscle for the Stanford Cardinal with 26 points Friday night at Maples Pavilion against Cal Poly in the season opening win

By London Marq

PALO ALTO–The stampeding Cal Poly Mustangs traveled to be hosted by the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion. In their home and season opener Stanford, enters play having won their most recent exhibition game against Chico State by a score of 91-81. With a rough schedule ahead including games against North Carolina and Kansas, Stanford will look to capitalize on the opening stretch of home games in November.

Players to watch:

Isaac White – After scoring an efficient 14 points off the bench in that first game, the Australian-born freshman Isaac White would get his first start in front of the home fans.

Reid Travis – The star forward from last season returns with elevated expectations, he scored 24 points vs. Chico State, and looks to keep the ball rolling.

Stanford looked dominant early, boasting a 11-point lead with nine minutes left in first half. Offensively, both teams were dynamic, finding ways to score from all areas of the floor. Despite the early lead, a number suspect defensive positions allowed Cal Poly to stay in the game throughout the half. It wasn’t until Robert Cartwright hit a 3 as time expired in the first half that the lead was stretched to 14 points. The teams would go into the locker room with the score of 38-24.

To start the second half, it was the Stanford who came out stampeding, stretching the lead to 18, forcing a Cal Poly time out less than 3 minutes into the second period. Stanford Star Reid Travis, who was heating up in the in first half came out on fire, scoring nine points in the first five minutes including one from deep. The mustangs would respond, finding rhythm, hitting seven shots in a row. Bringing the deficit back to 11, they were determined to keep this one within reach. Donovan Fields of Cal Poly was the leading scorer for the Mustangs, and put 15 of his 21 points in the second half. In the end it was fickle effort for Cal Poly, who could never close the gap and landed themselves in foul trouble early.

After the game, second year head coach Jerod Haase was very complimentary of Isaac White. “He’s a confident kid, and he’s confident because he’s worked his tail off for so long.” Haase elaborated, “He’s the kind of player my gut tells me there’s not going to be a moment that’s too big for him.” High praise for a freshman playing in the PAC-12. A freshman who did go five for five from beyond the arc and was the second leading scorer on the team.  Stanford may have found a gem in Isaac White. With any luck at all, he’ll be extremely complimentary to Reid Travis, who with 26 points, 12 rebounds and a dominant second period was being triple teamed for much of the game.

The FINAL: Stanford def. Cal Poly 78-62.