Stanford men rally to beat San Francisco

STANFORD - Stanford went into halftime with just 18 points, and still found a way to win.

Daejon Davis and Oscar da Silva each finished with 18 points and Stanford beat San Francisco 64-56 on Tuesday night.

“Coach, can I have your first-half offensive game plan?” legendary former Stanford head coach Mike Montgomery said with sarcasm to current Stanford head coach Jerod Hasse in the postgame interview room.

“I stole it from your great teams, Coach,” Haase joked back.

The Cardinal (10-1) overcame an 11-point second-half deficit despite not having freshman point guard and second-leading scorer Tyrell Terry, who missed his first game of the season with an “upper body injury.” Terry first felt the injury during shootaround before the game. Stanford team officials don't believe his injury is serious.

“Tyrell adds so much to this team,” Haase said. “His presence, his scoring, his playmaking, all those things were certainly missed. It takes a little bit of time to reset and get adjusted.”

Without Terry to distribute the ball, Stanford's offense bogged down for stretches. The Cardinal had only six assists and a whopping 19 turnovers, but shot 48% from the field and played excellent defense, holding San Francisco to just 39% shooting.

“We had a terrible offensive first half, but our defense kept us in it,” Davis said. “We knew our defense would sustain into the second half, and we knew if we got our offense going, we could come up with the win.”

San Francisco (9-3) went into the contest shooting 46% from the field and scoring 84.6 points per game. But the Dons couldn't handle Stanford's quickness and length on defense. Davis led the Cardinal with three steals.

“We pretty much owned them in the first 10 to 12 minutes, but we didn't take care of the ball very well in the second half,“ San Francisco head coach Todd Golden said. “Stanford did what it does so well - excellent defense and timely shooting. Some of our guys weren't playing like they normally do, and that hurt us.”

Charles Minlend led USF with 18 points and Jamaree Bouyea added 15.

“This was a valuable game for us to compete in,” Golden said. “I, our staff and the guys were disappointed to lose it, but we played hard and well, just not well enough to win it.”

Big picture

Stanford: The Cardinal erased a double-digit deficit and beat a tough opponent without Terry, one of its best players. Stanford remains undefeated at Maples Pavilion after winning its eighth straight game at home.

San Francisco: The Dons' record against Pac-12 opponents dropped to 1-2. They lost to Arizona State 71-67 two weeks ago. San Francisco is one of six West Coast Conference teams with at least nine wins.

Turning point

Stanford's leading scorer, da Silva, had just two points at halftime. But he scored 16 points in the second half, as Stanford's offense finally found life.

“Oscar was getting some post touches in the second half, and that unlocked things a little bit,” Haase explained. “Oscar is a captain. He knows when he's playing well and locked in. He self-corrected at halftime.”

Role player

Without Terry, Stanford needed someone unexpected to pick up the scoring slack. Bryce Wills, who went into the night averaging just five shots per game, picked up the slack. He took 11 shots against San Francisco and scored 12 points.