After toppling Tarleton State 62-50 in its home opener, Cardinal men’s basketball (1-1, 0-0 Pac-12) lost 88-72 in its first road game of the season on Friday night to Santa Clara (2-0, 0-0 WCC).
Senior forward Jaiden Delaire started his first game of the season after coming off of the bench in their Tuesday night win against the Texans. He replaced sophomore forward Max Murrell in the starting lineup.
Head coach Jerod Haase made the call to start with only one true guard on the floor in sophomore Michael O’Connell, so yet again, freshman forward Harrison Ingram took on some guard responsibilities.
The game started initially in favor of Stanford, who went on a 5-0 run for the first 2:08; however, Santa Clara answered with a 21-0 run of their own that finally ended when Murrell dunked for two. While not as potent through the latter part of the half, the Broncos’ offense and defense remained steady, preventing the Cardinal from closing the gap created by their scoring drought. Heading into the break, the Broncos were up 45-32.
After an Ingram three-pointer to start off the second half, Santa Clara burst out with another run — this time, 13 points to Stanford’s 0 — putting them up by 23 points with 17:07 left. Stanford made one final push, which included outscoring the Broncos 16-8 in the final 8:38, but it was too little too late. After some more back and forth between the teams, Santa Clara ultimately bested Stanford 88-72 in a battle of Bay-Area schools.
Ingram led the Cardinal with 19 points, followed by freshman forward Maxime Raynaud with 16. O’Connell and freshman guard Isa Silva also ended in double-digits with 13 and 12, respectively.
In addition, Raynaud posted his first collegiate double-double, leading the team in rebounds with 10. O’Connell tallied the most assists for the Cardinal with four. Overall, Stanford shot 39.4% from the field and 28.9% from behind the arc.
Defensively, Stanford struggled to cover the strong Santa Clara offense. The nail in the coffin for Stanford was the Santa Clara sharpshooting. With a physically-larger lineup, it was hard for the Stanford players (especially the forwards matched with guards) to keep up with the Broncos’ speed. Led by senior guard PJ Pipes with 24 points on 12-for-15 shooting, the Broncos shot an impressive 59.6% and 48.0% from three.
The Cardinal return home to face San Jose State (1-0, 0-0 MWC) on Monday at 8 p.m. PT for a second consecutive Bay Area battle.