The Stanford men’s basketball team fell to UCLA tonight in a thrilling double-overtime away loss. Despite an incredible scoring night for senior guard Chasson Randle, the last few minutes of the second overtime allowed UCLA to pick up an 86-81 win.

Both teams had some solid spurts throughout the game, as Stanford built their largest lead of the game (14 points) after a massive surge in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but UCLA was able to go on a run of their own and outscored Stanford 19-5 in the last ten minutes of regulation to send it into overtime.

The first overtime ended in dramatic fashion with UCLA’s Bryce Alford hitting a go-ahead three with around 6 seconds left. Chasson Randle was quickly able to make it down the court in time to get fouled with 2.3 seconds left on the clock. Randle hit his first free-throw, but missed his second to tie the game at 76-76 heading into the second overtime.

Some clutch shooting and some tough defense from UCLA in the dying minutes of the game allowed the Bruins to hold out and claim victory on the night, but the Cardinal will go home with their heads held high after an incredible game.

This game offered plenty of offensive output. The Bruins’ starting lineup scored all 86 of UCLA’s points, with every starter scoring in the double digits. Standout performances from freshman Kevon Looney and junior Tony Parker, with 27 and 22 points respectively, made it a tough night for the Cardinal.

The individual efforts of Randle kept this game close with Randle scoring 32 points on the night, one point shy of his career high. The Stanford team made 15 three-pointers on the night, shooting around 48 percent from behind the arc. This ties the team high that has been met on two other occasions. Stanford was much more efficient from 3-point range than they were from inside the arc. The team only shot 11 of 40 from mid-range, which contributed greatly to Stanford’s loss and wasted the aforementioned outside shooting.

Stanford was outrebounded on the night 69-58, which could be expected due to the absence of freshman Reid Travis, one of the Cardinal’s best rebounders.

The Cardinal look to improve on the foul trouble they got themselves into tonight. UCLA shot 39 free throws with many fouls coming from Stanford’s stars Randle, Brown and Nastic, who had 4, 4 and 5 fouls respectively.

Despite incredible efforts from the team, Stanford was unable to win their third big overtime game this season. In recent weeks Stanford has outlasted two ranked teams, No. 9 Texas and No. 21/19 Washington in thrilling overtime wins, but the magic was cut short tonight.

Head coach Johnny Dawkins and the team will have the opportunity to bounce back in the second game of their away trip against USC on Sunday, January 11.

Contact Jack Seaton at jrseaton ‘at’ stanford.edu.