Stanford Cardinal Holds On and Advances to The Garden
The Stanford Cardinal and Vanderbilt Commodores entered their NIT matchup with the opportunity of playing in the “Most Famous Arena” in the world on the line — Madison Square Garden.
The Cardinal and Commodores took different paths to their Tuesday night battle. Stanford came in after a wire to wire victory over Rhode Island, while Vanderbilt used a furious five-minute stretch highlighted by five three pointers in a 23-2 run, to take down South Dakota State in their second round NIT match-up.
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The winner of this quarter-final game would be rewarded with the opportunity to play in Madison Square Garden, which many basketball and entertainment historians call “The Most Famous Arena in the World”.
There was one other historical storyline during Tuesday night’s game. And that storyline revolved around Stanford’s shooting guard Chasson Randle. He entered the contest just 26 points behind Todd Lichti to become the Cardinal’s all-time leading scorer.
Randle was coming off an impressive scoring night versus Rhode Island, scoring a career high 35 points, and leading the Cardinal to a convincing 74-65 victory.
The game versus Vanderbilt took on a different tone almost immediately. Against Rhode Island, Randle played like a man on a mission, making his dominating presence felt early on, and scoring all of Stanford first 12 points.
Against the Commodores though, the Cardinal did not have to rely on one man to carry the offensive load. Anthony Brown stepped up early for Stanford, matching Randle’s five early points with five of his own, as the duo combined for the Cardinal first 10 points of the game.
Stanford got out to an early 22-15 lead and seemed to be in control. However, when Randle went to the bench, the Commodores instantly reeled off three consecutive shots from downtown, starting with a three pointer from Matthew Fisher-Davis.
The barrage of long-distance shots cut the Stanford lead down to two points at 26-24 at the 3:53 mark of the first half.
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The game remained close throughout the first half, but Anthony Brown‘s 17 first half points helped carry the Cardinal to a 36-31 halftime lead.
The second half started off a little choppy and Vanderbilt had a difficult time reclaiming the frenzied flow of the first half. The Commodores routinely found themselves on the wrong end of the officials whistle, which allowed the Cardinal to get into the one and one bonus at the 12:40 mark.
Brown continued to have a hot hand in the second half, while Chasson Randle suffered a scoring drought that brudged the end of the first half into the second. Randle went 15 minutes without scoring before hitting a lay up five minutes into the second half.
The Cardinal found their scoring rhythm early in the second half and built a 51-41 lead with 13 minutes left in contest. But Matthew Fisher-Davis‘ hot three-point shooting brought the Commodores to within four points at 57-53.
Stanford seemed to have the game under control leading 71-62 with a little over three minutes left, and a trip to the Big Apple within their grasp.
Tensions were high as the lead stood at just five points 75-70, with a minute left in the game. Vanderbilt, to its credit fought to the very end. The Commodores began a fierce comeback, and when Fisher-Davis nailed his career high six three-pointer, Stanford’s lead was cut down to two at 75-73.
The Cardinal was able to withstand Fisher-Davis’ late game heroics, and after the freshman guard out up an air-ball with 4.4 seconds left, the Cardinal escaped the game with a 78-75 victory.
Stanford was led by Brown’s 26 points, and although Randle didn’t get the 26 points needed to tie Todd Lichti atop of the Cardinal’s all-time scoring list, he contributed a solid 16 points.
Vanderbilt was led by its sharp-shooting freshman guard Fisher-Davis, who tallied 18 points on a career high six three-point field goals made.
The Cardinal will play its NIT semifinal game next Tuesday in Madison Square Garden, versus the winner of Wednesday night’s game between Old Dominion and Murray State.