The Stanford Cardinal forward Maxime Raynaud (left) who led with 25 points and 19 3’s celebrates a win over the USC Trojans with head coach Jerod Haase (right) at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto on Sat Feb 10, 2024 (AP News photo)
By Michael Roberson
STANFORD, Calif. — A school record 19 threes helped propel the Stanford Cardinal (12-11, 7-6 Pac-12) to a 99-68 blowout win over the University of Southern California Trojans (9-15, 3-10 Pac-12) in front of a sold out (7,563) Maples Pavilion crowd.
An electric atmosphere surrounding the Northern/Southern rivalry between the two California conference rivals, was also exacerbated by the son (Bronny) of the NBA All-Time Leading scorer, Lebron James, making his first and only appearance at Stanford. The full house was cheering and booing Bronny James, in the same polarizing scenario his father has been through during his storied career. The jeers were apparently directed at James Sr. vicariously through his son.
James Jr. had an unimpressive 6 points and 3 assists, without his father being in the Palo Alto crowd. However, when the Trojans played Cal last Wednesday, King James was inside Haas Pavilion, to witness his son’s team lose an overtime battle to the Golden Bears.
Cal actually started the game off with a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately for them, that was the last lead they would possess in the game Bronny bounced a dime assist to put the Trojans on the scoreboard first, and later hit a three and got an exciting breakaway dunk, stuntin like his daddy. Other than that, it was all Stanford with the excitement and thrills.
The Cardinal stroked a school record 12 treys in the first half. They also had three players in double-figures after 20 minutes of play. Maxime Raynaud (15), 2 threes, Andrej Stojakovic (14), 4 threes, and Benny Gealer (11), 3 threes. The Trojans had 0 players with 10+ points.
After the early 4-point deficit, Stanford went on a 25-0 run and led by as much as 31 points before recess. USC was scoreless for nearly 7 1/2 minutes and approximately 9 minutes without a made FG. At halftime, the Cardinal led by 29 points, 55-26.
In the second half, the onslaught continued, as the team added seven more 3-pointers to their record tabulations. Their lead reached a margin of 33 points, and they managed to maintain that advantage – minus two points – at the final whistle, 99-68.
During the second 20-minute block two Cardinal players recorded career highs in scoring: Freshman Andrej Stojakovic (20) and sophomore Benny Gealer (14). Maxime Raynaud was almost perfect from the field (10-11) and contributed 25 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists and 2-2 from threeland. Spencer Jones had 15 points on 5 made threes, and Kanaan Carlyle added 10 points, 4 assists and 2 blocks.
The Trojans only had a single soul reach double-digits, and it was not Bronny James. Freshman Isaiah Collier posted 18 points for his USC squad, but that was not nearly enough for the offensive barrage of their NorCal opponent.
After the impressive 31-point beatdown, the Cardinal will next be in action in the Great Northwest, as they will battle the Washington Huskies, Thursday, February 15, at 6 PM PDT on ESPN2. The Trojans will head to the Beehive State on the same date to take on the Utah Utes at 8 PM MST .
