After holding its first 14 opponents to 72 points or fewer en route to a 12-2 start, the Stanford men’s basketball team gave up season-high point totals in back-to-back road games against the Oregon schools. Thanks to a late comeback on Saturday night, though, the Cardinal was able to salvage a split in thrilling fashion, winning the longest game in school history 103-101.
On Thursday, Stanford (13-3, 3-1 Pac-12) suffered its first loss in conference play, falling 78-67 to Oregon (11-4, 2-1). Duck forward Devoe Joseph scored 16 of his game-high 30 points in the final 10 minutes to help Oregon pull away. Joseph, a senior transfer from Minnesota, had not scored more than 19 points in nearly three full years. Meanwhile, the Cardinal was outrebounded for only the third time all season—Stanford is 1-2 in those games.
Thursday’s game was the Cardinal’s first road loss, but Saturday’s tussle with Oregon State was the game of the weekend in the Pac-12 and perhaps the nation.
For much of the early going, the game was anything but exciting for Stanford. The Beavers used an early 18-5 run to take a 32-17 lead with six minutes to go in the first half. The big blows were back-to-back three-pointers by reserve guard Roberto Nelson after one of his shoes had fallen off. Nelson, who had made just six shots total in his past three games, was 6-for-9 with 15 points in the first half to lead all scorers.
Stanford responded to the Beavers’ lead with a 15-2 run of its own, but Oregon State stretched the lead back to seven at halftime. The Beaver offense clicked at the start of the half, and several early layups gave Oregon State a 55-43 lead. Just when it appeared that the Cardinal was reverting to last year’s poor form, Stanford’s guards took over. Sophomore Aaron Bright and freshman Chasson Randle hit three-pointers to cap a 10-0 Stanford run that gave the Cardinal its first lead of the game at 61-60 with 8:30 to go.
From there, the game tightened up, as neither team led by more than three points. Sophomore forward Dwight Powell, who did not score on Thursday, got crucial playing time on Saturday and made a layup to give Stanford a 74-71 lead with just over two minutes to play. Oregon State responded as forward Angus Brandt banked in a three-pointer to tie it.
With just 25 seconds left, the score was tied again, and Brandt was fouled by Powell. Brandt missed both free throws, giving Stanford a chance to win the game at the buzzer. Powell missed a jumper with two seconds left, and Oregon State forward Eric Moreland got the rebound. Instead of just holding it for overtime, Moreland tried to heave the ball downcourt, and redshirt senior forward Josh Owens knocked it down and immediately laid the ball in right at the buzzer.
The Stanford bench mobbed Owens as it appeared he had just won the game. However, the referees checked the monitors and determined that the red light on the backboard—the official indicator of the end of the game, rather than the stadium clock—was illuminated a fraction of a second before Owens released the ball, making the shot not count and sending the game to overtime.
Stanford began overtime at a disadvantage because sophomore forward John Gage fouled out during regulation. The Cardinal’s foul trouble worsened as Bright picked up his fourth foul and senior guard Jarrett Mann fouled out. Trailing 83-82 with 23 seconds left, Randle made one of two free throws to tie the game up, and Beaver guard Ahmad Starks dribbled the ball off his foot out of bounds on Oregon State’s final possession to force another extra frame.
In the second overtime, the two teams traded leads back and forth. Down by one with 20 seconds left, Powell threw a perfect inbounds pass to Randle for an easy layup to take the lead. Oregon State forward Joe Burton then got fouled and made one free throw to tie it back up, and Randle’s desperation shot was blocked to send the game to triple overtime.
By the third overtime, both teams were clearly exhausted. The Beavers didn’t make shots, but they still held a 95-92 lead thanks to three free throws. The final of those three came after Bright’s fifth foul, making him the third Cardinal starter to foul out. Stanford looked to be at the end of its road, but Oregon State missed a couple put-backs to keep the game within a score, and finally sophomore forward Anthony Brown knocked down a clutch game-tying three-pointer with 17 seconds left. The 14th tie of the game forced yet another overtime session.
Randle came out on fire to start the fourth overtime, sinking a three-pointer and converting a layup on the first two possessions of the period to give Stanford a 100-95 lead. This marked the first time since the game was 60-55 with nine minutes left in regulation that either team led by more than one possession. The two-score lead proved to be too much for the Beavers, as Stanford led for the whole period. Oregon State did cut the lead to one point twice, and the Beavers had a shot to win it at the buzzer, but Nelson’s fall-away three-pointer fell off the rim to preserve the 103-101 Stanford win.
The game was the longest in both teams’ history, as neither team had ever played more than two overtimes in a game. Randle led both teams with 24 points, but each team had six players notch double-digit point totals. Stanford, which had had just one double-double all season, had two—Owens had 16 points and 11 rebounds while Powell had his best game of the year with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Oregon State also had two double-doubles—Burton had 18 and 10 while forward Devon Collier had 16 and 11.
Each team had four players log at least 40 minutes on the court, led by Beaver guard Jared Cunningham’s 54 minutes. Cunningham, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, was held to just 4-for-16 shooting from the field but did make 10 free throws to finish with 19 points.
For the second consecutive game, Stanford was outshot and outrebounded, but this time the Cardinal pulled out the victory. A big reason was Stanford’s long-range shooting. Despite shooting just 37.5 percent from two-point range, the Cardinal was 13-for-28 from three-point range, led by Bright and Randle, who each made four.
After the three-hour marathon, Stanford has a few days to rest before hosting Pac-12 newcomers Utah and Colorado. The Buffaloes are the only Pac-12 team without a conference loss in the first two weekends. The Cardinal hosts Utah at Maples Pavilion on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and Colorado on Saturday at 1 p.m.