The Johnny Dawkins era at home began the same as it did on the road last
Friday night, with a win that wasn’t particularly great aesthetically, but
definitely good looking on the scoreboard. All of Stanford’s starters were
in double figures as the Cardinal defeated the Cal State Northridge Matadors on
Tuesday night by a final score of 103-85.
Stanford was led by Anthony Goods who had 25 points on 6-13 shooting from the
field and 11-12 from the free throw line. Landry Fields had 18 on 5-7
shooting, while Josh Owens, Lawrence Hill, and Mitch Johnson each contributed 14
points. The Matadors were led by senior guard Josh Jenkins who had 24
points on a near perfect 10-12 from the field, but he only played 28 minutes due
to foul trouble, a common theme this evening for Northridge. Willie
Gallick, a transfer out of Pepperdine by way of Cedar Community School, had 12
points (6-6 from the field), but he too was a main target of the refs, fouling
out of the game having played just 14 minutes.
What started out as a tight game turned into a game of runs that started and
ended with the Cardinal running away from Northridge. With the Matadors up
18-15 early in the first half, Stanford went on a 10-0 run over the next 1:19 to
go up seven with just over 11 minutes remaining. From there, the Cardinal
extended their lead over the next seven minutes to 18, leading 43-25 and
seemingly in control of the contest. However, Northridge would chop the
lead considerably, getting to within 49-42, before Stanford ended the half with
a three-point play from Johnson and a double-digit lead once again at 52-42.
The Matadors, though, were not to be denied, chopping away at the lead and
eventually tying it up at 56 with 15:50 left in the game. Over the next
5:40, Stanford could not pull away by more than five points and saw itself tied
one more time at 70 with the opposition. After that, the game would shift
back to Stanford as they used runs of 11-2 and 20-4, suffocating the Matadors
and scoring on just about every opportunity down the floor, putting away the Big
West Conference challenger.
In this roller-coaster affair, the Matadors committed 34 fouls to just 16 for
Stanford, leading to a huge disparity at the free throw line as Stanford was
40-47 from the charity stripe, while Northridge was just 9-12. While this
may look like a totally lopsided ledger, a reason for the huge free throw margin
was that while the Matadors were settling for jumpers, the Cardinal were going
inside on a regular basis and making sure they drew contact. Throw in the fact that the referees were calling just about every hand check and other small contact on the floor, the Cardinal were able to benefit and deliver at the line. However,
Northridge also did a tremendous job shooting both inside and outside the arc,
shooting a blazing 62.5% from the field by making a bevy of running lay-ups off
some nice give-and-go plays and exploiting a few favorable one-on-one matchups
in the open court, something the Cardinal will need to shore up before their
next outing. Northridge also managed to hit 6-16 from outside the
three-point line. In comparison, Stanford shot just 48.3% from the field,
but hitting 31 more free throws proved to be too much for the Big West pre-season
favorites.
Two other key stats that went Stanford’s way tonight were the rebounding and
turnover battles. Unlike versus Yale, where the Cardinal were outrebounded
44-33, Stanford was able to grab 32 boards (including 17 on the offensive end),
compared to just 24 for the Matadors. Northridge’s “Dennis Rodman,” Tony
Osunsanmi was held to just two in his limited time off the bench. The
Cardinal were also able to force 25 turnovers, including nine steals (compared
to 17 and five, respectively, for Northridge versus Stanford), leading to
chances for many scores on the offensive end.
With the win, Stanford goes to 2-0 on the young season and gets an eight-day
break before it takes again to the home hardwood in a non-televised game versus
Air Force on Wednesday, November 26th at 7:30pm.
Stanford/Northridge Box Score
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