Stanford advances to NIT championship game

NEW YORK - Chasson Randle came into the NIT semifinals 11 points away from setting Stanford’s all-time scoring record. The Cardinal needed much more than that from their senior star after blowing a 21-point first-half lead.

Randle played through foul trouble to score 24 points Tuesday and carry Stanford past Old Dominion 67-60 with some big second-half shots.

Randle passed Todd Lichti and has 2,350 points for his career.

“He’s a winner,” coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He’s shown that through his career here.”

The Cardinal (23-13) led 15-0 when Old Dominion finally scored its first points nearly five minutes in and were up 25-4 midway through the first half. But the deficit was just six at halftime after Richard Ross’ dunk with six seconds left.

Old Dominion (27-8) took its first lead on Ross’ layup with just over 11 minutes left. But a steal and a dunk in transition by Marcus Allen with less than eight minutes to go put Stanford up for good, and Randle then hit two straight 3-pointers.

After Trey Freeman missed a potential tying jumper with 87 seconds to go, Randle’s floater put Stanford up 63-59. His two free throws with 44.3 seconds left stretched the lead to six.

Randle picked up his fourth foul midway through the second half, but spent less than two minutes on the bench after that.

The Cardinal face Miami in Thursday’s NIT championship game.

The Monarchs started pressing to get back in it, forcing 10 first-half turnovers to overcome some horrendous shooting. At the half, Old Dominion had missed all nine of its 3-point attempts, and its two leading scorers, Freeman and Aaron Bacote, were scoreless on combined 0-for-13 shooting.

“We were able to come up with a couple steals and convert points off turnovers, so that was good, kind of got our crowd into it and gave us a little bit of life,” coach Jeff Jones said.

Ross scored 15 points off the bench, going 7 of 7 from the floor. Another reserve, Ambrose Mosley, led Old Dominion with 16 points.

“Ultimately, gosh, I’m so proud of these guys,” Jones said. “Been a terrific ride this year. ... Absolutely can’t fault the effort at all. But ultimately, you’ve got to put the ball in the basket, and we didn’t do that well enough.”

CLASS ACT

Randle hit a free throw in the final minute of the first half to set the record. Lichti tweeted his congratulations, calling Randle a “class act.”

“It’s a great honor just to be able to have my name behind it,” Randle said.

TIP-INS

Stanford: The Cardinal won the NIT in Randle’s freshman season in 2012. .?.?. Stanford committed just four turnovers after halftime. .?.?. Fellow senior Stefan Nastic added 17 points.

Old Dominion: The Monarchs’ starters combined for just 20 points. Freeman scored 13 of them but shot just 6 for 24. .?.?. Bacote, who came in averaging 10.1 points, was scoreless. .?.?. Old Dominion went 3 of 19 from beyond the arc.