Led by a dominant performance in the paint by senior forwards Jack Trotter and Andrew Zimmerman, the men’s basketball team improved to 7-1 on the season with a 72-49 win over Seattle Thursday night.

 

Trotter scored 13 points on 5-6 shooting from the field — including a rare three-pointer for the 6-foot-9 power forward — in what was his best performance of the season against the Redhawks’ overwhelmed interior defense.

 

Zimmerman also got into the action down low, scoring 10 points on 5-8 shooting as the Cardinal shot 45 percent from the field and took a 40-17 at halftime after holding Seattle (2-3) scoreless for a seven-minute stretch early in the game.

 

Sophomore forward Anthony Brown heated up from the outside after the break, knocking down several three-pointers and scoring 10 of his game-high 15 points in the half. And despite a big improvement from the Redhawks offense — they shot just 8-25 from the field in the first half and missed all nine three-point attempts — the Cardinal was just too much to handle.

 

Sophomore forward John Gage had another solid shooting night, going 2-3 from behind the arc and contributing eight points in the first half, and fellow sophomore forward Josh Huestis continued his recent stretch of stellar play with nine points and nine rebounds on the night.

 

Stanford did have to shake off tough shooting nights from freshman guard Chasson Randle and redshirt senior forward Josh Owens, who went a combined 1-13 with no points from Owens — the Cardinal’s leading scorer was averaging better than 12 points per game before the game.

 

Up next for Stanford is a matchup with North Carolina State at home on Sunday. It will be the last game before the team breaks for dead and finals weeks, with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m. at Maples Pavilion.

 

—Miles Bennett-Smith