Stanford Cardinal guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) goes up for a lay up against the Idaho Vandals at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto on Sun Dec 17, 2023 (AP News photo)

By Michael Roberson

STANFORD, Calif — The Stanford Cardinal (5-4. 0-0 Pac-12) subdued the Idaho Vandals (6-5, 0-0 Big Sky) 82-64 on a rainy Sunday in the Bay, without Spencer Jones..

Senior forward Spencer Joneswas out with a leg injury, but it didn’t prevent his fellow Cardinal from performing a dominant win inside Maples Pavilion. They not only picked up the slack, but freshman Kanaan Carlyle gave a great contribution in his Stanford debut.

Despite Idaho scoring the first two points of the game, the Cardinal led threat of the way, after taking a 4-2 lead. During that time frame they went on a 9-0 run and led by as much as 19 points.

The team ended the first 20 minutes with the 19-point lead, shot 63% from the field grabbed 22 rebounds and dished 11 assists. The Cardinal defense was steller too, as they forced the Vandals to shoot a putrid 27% from the floor, and 19% from threeland.

Neither team had a player in double-digits at the half, although Stanford’s junior forward Maxime Raynaud offered eight points and five rebounds and freshman guard Andrej Stojakovic also chipped in 8 points. The aforementioned Carlyle dropped seven points himself. Idaho’s redshirt-freshman Tyler topped his team with five points.

At intermission, Stanford 41-22, and was seemingly in total control of the game. The half ended with the vandals only leading for 23 seconds, while the Cardinal had the advantage for more than 18 minutes.

In the second half, despite many comeback attempts (6-0 run) by Idaho, Stanford had extended the lead as much as 23 points and never looked back

To the Vandals’ credit, they did shoot 53% in the second half, in addition to scoring 20 more points (42) than the previous half of play. Stanford on the other hand, scored the exact amount of points (41) in both halves.

When it was all said and done, the major damage was executed in the first half, and turned out to be enough to complete the mission/win. Stanford led a total of 38:22 and shot 56.4% overall for the game. This dominance led to the 18-point victory, 82-64.

The Cardinal had four players reach double-digits, and Jared Bynum was close, with 9 points and 6 assists. Raynaud (12) and 13 rebounds, Stojakovic (17), Michael Jones (14) and Carlyle (11).

Idaho produced three players with more than 10 points: Linhardt (16), senior guard D’Angelo Minnis (12) and junior guard Quinn Denker (13).

Stanford will next be in action in Southern California Thursday, December 21 at 6 PM PDT, as they take on the San Diego State Aztecs. Idaho also heads south in California on the same date, to take on the University of California – Riverside Highlanders at 5 PM PDT.