Photo credit: gostanford.com
By Joey Friedman
Sports Radio Service
February 1, 2018
PALO ALTO–The Stanford Cardinal (12-11, 6-4) hosted and beat the Oregon State Beavers (11-10, 3-6) to the tune of 80-71 in their only matchup of the year. Stanford led the whole game.
Stanford came into the game with three straight losses against #14 Arizona and both of the LA schools (USC and UCLA) after going 5-1 to start conference play and beating #16 Arizona State at home. Oregon State had gone an honest 3-5 in Pac-12 play with wins against Oregon, UCLA, and Colorado (none of whom were ranked).
Stanford jumped out to a commanding 20-3 lead early with help from five quick turnovers by Oregon State after starting the game with 12 straight points and holding OSU scoreless in the first four minutes. Junior forward Reid Travis scored 11 of Stanford’s first 14 points.
With 12:32 left in the first half, Stanford freshman Daejon Davis added to his team-high 50 floor burns with a hustle play near half court after he tipped the ball away from Stephen Johnson Jr. of OSU in between the circles of OSU’s front court. He was immediately rewarded with his effort with a beautiful feed by Travis which Davis converted for two points and by an emphatic response from Stanford head coach Jerod Haase who coined the “floor burner” phrase in his collegiate days at Kansas.
Stanford led at the half by a score of 43-28 as they shot 62.1% from the field on the best scoring defense in the Pac 12 in Oregon State.
In the second half, Oregon State was able to put together a couple of 9-0 runs. They did so on the backs of junior forward Drew Eubanks (who had a 3 point play on a layup with 8 minutes left in the game to bring OSU to within six points of the Cardinal, the smallest margin of the night), sophomore forward Tres Tinkle, freshman guard Ethan Thompson (fouled out), and junior guard Stephen Thompson Jr.. All four scored in double digits. Tres Tinkle is still the only Pac-12 player who has scored in double figures in every game this season.
Stanford recovered, however, and lifted their lead back up to 15 with three minutes left after a Kezie Okpala floater.
For the Cardinal, Reid Travis finished with 24 points (21 in the first half), going 10-14 from the field and making both 3’s he attempted. Daejon Davis added 12 points while going 8-12 from the charity stripe. Okpala finished with 9 points as Da Silva and White each contributed 8. Travis and Humphrey (4 points in 21 minutes) both fouled out.
Stanford’s greatest point margin over the Beavers was 20 points, which they reached once in each half. They finished with a 56% mark from the field as OSU shot a 49% clip. Both teams combined for 39 turnovers, OSU owned 21 of them. Stanford took far more advantage of OSU’s mistakes, however, by collecting 28 points off OSU’s turnover while Oregon State collected 12 fewer points off the Cardinal’s turnovers. Both teams made five 3’s as Stanford finished with 12 attempts and OSU finished with 13.
Dorian Pickens needed 16 points tonight to become the 46th member of Stanford’s 1000 point club after Reid Travis joined the club in December and Brittany McPhee joined the women’s 1000 point club six days ago. He finished with 15 points going 4-10 from the field, 2-6 from beyond the arc, and 5-6 from the free throw line in 37 minutes.
The Beavers have the all time series lead (75-71), but Stanford has dominated recently winning 9 of the last 11 games just as they have dominated at Maples–winning 22 of the last 24 meetings on The Farm.
What’s Next?
STAN: Stanford will host Oregon on Saturday (2/3/18). Then, the Cardinal will travel to Utah and Colorado before they travel to Berkeley for a rematch with the Golden Bears.
OSU: Oregon State will travel to Berkeley next for a game on Saturday before hosting the Washington schools in Corvallis.
