Stanford Cardinal forward Maxime Raynaud lays one up against the Santa Clara Broncos at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto on Tue Nov 14, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

Tuesday night the Stanford Cardinal (2-1) took on the Santa Clara Broncos (3-0) in a battle of the unbeaten. Stanford led by slight margins for most of the game. They had led by as much as 12 points in the first half but it was the Broncos who pushed the pace eventually winning the game 89-77.

Tuesday night the Cardinal took on the Broncos at Maples Pavilion. Stanford is coming off a win Friday night against the (0-3) Sacramento Hornets 91-73. The Broncos are also coming off a win over St. Francis PA last Saturday 82-59.

In that game Carlos Marshall Jr. had the high score for Santa Clara with 25 points. Stanford kept an eye on Marshall. The Cardinal have a solid roster in Brandon Angel, Spencer Jones, Maxime Raynaud and Andre Stojakovic.

Stanford was highly favored. Angel had the high score in their last game against Sacramento finishing with 18 points with Jones, Raynaud and Stojakovic all scoring in double digits. Raynaud finished the game with seven rebounds. Both teams came into this game unbeaten. The Broncos came away with their record perfect and the Cardinal take their first loss.

Stanford hit the court starting this game with a shot from downtown from Stojakovic taking an early 3-0 lead. After taking a 28-16 lead at 12:08 the Cardinal let it all slip away and at 7:29 in the first half they were leading by a basket 30-28.

The Broncos took the lead once in the first half by a single point but Stanford hung onto the lead for the rest of the half. Santa Clara refused to go away threatening throughout the final seven minutes of play in the opening half. Stanford led at the half 46-44. Maxime Raynaud had the high for Stanford with 17 points.

The Broncos took the lead a couple of times in the second half but Stanford took the lead back every time but just could not establish a consistent rhythm and dictate the pace of this game. At 11:45 Santa Clara’s Adama Bal hit a shot from downtown and the Broncos went on to take a 62-57 lead.

This time it was the Broncos that threatened the pace of this game. This time it was Santa Clara that was holding small leads and extending their lead to 83-75 with less than a minute left in the game.

The Cardinal will next take on Eastern Wa again at Maples Friday night with tipoff is scheduled for 6:00 PM.