Not too much was expected out of this game
but it turned into quite a potential story. Stanford was winning
35-34 with 18 minutes to play and Portland St. looked like it
wasn’t going to let down. Jacobsen and Co. made sure that
didn’t happen as the Cardinal put in a strong second half
and ran away with the game in the form of 87-63 victory. Jacobsen
once again led the Cardinal with his most balanced game of the
season. He scored 24 points on 4-9 from 3-point range and had 9
rebounds as well as 7 assists. New starter Julius Barnes scored
16 points on 4-8 3-point shooting but led the team was well with
five turnovers. Childress, Borchardt, and Giovacchini also
chipped in with double figure scoring outputs of their own.
Anthony Lackey led the Vikings with 26 points and single handedly
kept the team in the game. Jeb Ivey, a former Bellarmine star,
scored 17 points and pulled down 7 rebounds of his own.
Not much can be taken out of this game due
to the competition but a few things looked well last night.
Julius Barnes in his first start took full advantage and pushed
the ball constantly and gave his teammates a lot of good looks.
He did have five turnovers but defiantly gave the starters a
spark. Jacobsen looks like he has regained the touch as he had 10
three-pointers in the tournament and looked very strong.
Borchardt had another solid game and is looking like the best
center on the west coast and one of the top in the country. He
broke his string of double-double’s but was in foul trouble
most of the night and never really got his game going with the
Vikings 2-3 zone.
With the good there were a few negatives in
the game. Justin Davis had a real down game and never really got
his game going. He has been a real streaky player for Stanford,
but definitely needs to be consistent next to Curtis. Also, Tony
continued to struggle. He did hit two treys at the end of the
game but didn’t have any assists. He is becoming a liability
out there but hopefully will improve as BYU, Michigan State and
the Pac-10 season is upon us.
Overall a rather sloppy game but things could be worse. Curtis
is a dominating player in the post and Casey seems to have
snapped out of his funk. Barnes looks like he will provide a
spark to the starting lineup and will provide better perimeter
defense, which has been lacking. Now the team is off to Las Vegas
where it will get a rare opportunity to plat in front of a
national audience on