2015 COLLEGE BASKETBALL: USC AT STANFORD

STANFORD, Calif. – Chasson Randle called Marcus Allen a sparkplug for the team and Sunday he showed why.

Allen scored four of his 10 points in the final four minutes and grabbed three of his career -high 11 rebounds in the same span and Stanford overcame a halftime deficit to beat USC 70-62 on Sunday.

Randle scored 17 points, Stefan Nastic added 15 and Anthony Brown and Rosco Allen added 11 points apiece for the Cardinal (16-7, 7-4 in the Pac-12), which ended a two-game losing streak.

“It kind of just happens,” Marcus Allen said. “I try to pick everybody up on defense and get them energized. I try to do the small things that don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

Katin Reinhardt scored 19 points and Jordan McLaughlin added 18 for the Trojans (9-14, 1-10), who lost their ninth straight.

“I thought it was a really good college basketball game,” USC coach Andy Enfield said. “In transition, we had a wide-open layup with about 2:30 left, but our player (Reinhardt) had his knee give out on him. We had a two-on-zero break and we didn’t get any points out of it. If you look at a couple of crucial plays in the game, that’s the difference.”

An offensive goal-tending call on a Nastic basket gave Stanford a 65-59 edge with 3:31 left to play and the Trojans never got closer than four the rest of the way.

“Marcus does one thing one night and something different the next night,” Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. “If he can put it all together he’s capable of having a great career here.”

The Cardinal opened the second half with a 13-4 run to wipe out a six-point halftime deficit. An offensive rebound led to Randle’s lean-in jumper with 13:53 remaining that put Stanford ahead.

“I’m impressed with the win,” Randle said. “They gave us everything they had and we had to give them everything we had.”

Marcus Allen’s lay-up with 6:28 left in the first half to put Stanford ahead, 27-20. The Trojans outscored the Cardinal 19-6 the rest of the way to take a 39-33 advantage into intermission.

“We need everybody,” Dawkins said. “Losing two in a row was a difficult pill to swallow. We had to figure out a way to get back on track.”

USC post player Nikola Jovanovic was limited to 18 minutes because of foul trouble. The Cardinal took advantage with a 50-35 rebounding edge.

“It was huge for us,” Dawkins said. “He can really cause problems. Him getting in foul trouble was tough for them but fortunate for us. Stefan was able to finish in there.”

– – – – – – – –

NOTES: Stanford leads the all-time series 124-123. The Cardinal swept the season series for the second straight season and has won 11 of the last 13 games against the Trojans at Maples Pavilion … Stanford placed five scorers in double figures for the second game this season (also five at DePaul on Nov. 30). The Cardinal has produced four double-digit scorers in 12 games … Marcus Allen notched his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes … Chasson Randle has made at least eight free throws in a game five times this season … In his third game back since returning from injury, Reid Travis finished with four points and four rebounds in nine minutes off the bench … Stanford is 4-5 this season when trailing at halftime … The Cardinal’s 50 rebounds were its most since totaling 51 against Texas Southern on Nov. 21, 2013 … Stanford committed 17 turnovers after entering the game averaging only 10.2 miscues, which ranked 14th-best in the nation … After allowing 46.9 percent shooting in the first half, Stanford limited USC to 31.3 percent over the final 20 minutes … Stanford has won three games this season when shooting under 40.0 percent … Stanford improved to 11-2 at home this season and 87-29 all-time at Maples Pavilion under head coach Johnny Dawkins … Next up for Stanford are road games at Utah (Thursday, Feb. 12) and Colorado (Sunday, Feb. 15).

– – – – – – – –

Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins
“We won a hard-fought game against a team that’s been playing well. They’ve been close to winning a lot of games, and I’m just happy the way our guys closed tonight. We finished the game out on a strong note, especially the second half. Our defense in the second half was probably as good as it has been all year. I think that’s how we won the game. To shoot 37 percent from the field and still win: the only way you can pull that off is by being focused defensively, and I thought our guys were.”

“We went back to the huddle and talked about it being a team win, and it was. You had a night when Chasson wasn’t at his best and neither was Anthony, and you had guys step up. That’s what it’s about. We’ve been preaching that, and I think our guys had a chance to really see a good example of it. We need everybody cause you never know when someone’s not going to have his night. It was great to see Marcus get a double-double and Rosco really gave some big contributions as well.”

“We really needed it. We needed to get back on track, losing two games in a row. It’s a long season. That hadn’t happened to us this entire year: losing back-to-back games. So for us, it was a difficult pill to swallow and we had to figure out a way to get back on the right track, and I think our guys did that tonight against a team that has been in every ballgame they’ve played recently.”

“I’m sure we’re going to try to demand [11 rebounds per game] from him. If he did it once, I think he can do it again and repeat it. My thing is I think Marcus is getting more comfortable in his role, like we talked about before, and he’s starting to really find out what he’s capable of accomplishing out there. Each night is something new, something different: one night, it’s transition, one night it’s driving to the basket, another night it’s rebounding. What Marcus is going to have to learn to do is put it all together. Once he puts all those things together, I think he has a chance to have a terrific career for us.”

Stanford Senior Chasson Randle
“I’m impressed with the win, that’s it. Shots are going to fall and shots are not going to fall sometimes. But one thing that I can always hang my hat on is my team winning. That’s something I’m proud of with all our guys.”

“We call him [Marcus Allen] the sparkplug for us. He definitely did that for us tonight on the boards, making plays and finishing at the rim. We’re definitely glad he had the performance he had tonight.”

“We’ve faced some adversity these past couple of games. We’re at a point that we just have to fight through it. Going into our next game, it’s going to be the same thing where we have to keep fighting. No matter what the outcome — shots falling, shots not falling — we have to get maximum effort. And if we do that, I like our chances.”

Stanford Sophomore Marcus Allen
“It was a matter of us making an adjustment defensively. They were hitting shots early on. The two perimeter players got off from the three and we had to make the adjustment, and I think we did a good job later in the second half.”

“Picking the energy up on defense, trying to get stops, get deflections. Just small things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, whether it’s rebounding, making the extra pass, getting the guys all energized and hyped up. Small things just give us momentum and get a run going. It’s a game of runs, really, so that’s my goal when I get out there.”

“The rebounding just happened. Just playing hard, pursuing the ball. It’s outplaying the guy who’s in front of you. I didn’t even know I had that many rebounds.”

USC Head Coach Andy Enfield
“We missed a couple easy shots, a couple shots in the lane, and we also missed a couple open threes. To beat a good team on the road you have to make shots — we did that in the first half and we had the lead. I thought it was a really good college basketball game.”

“There were a couple crucial calls; they shot-faked and we left our feet, so they got six three-points when they jumped into us from the three-point line. And those were big points in a tight game like this. It’s hard to give that away. In transition, we had a wide-open layup with about 2:30 left, but our player (Katin Reinhardt) had his knee give out on him. We had a two-on-zero break and we didn’t get any points out of it. If you look at a couple of crucial plays in the game, that’s the difference.”

“We played hard, we played extremely hard at times tonight. The times we struggled, we couldn’t put the ball in the basket, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort. The guys played really hard tonight.”

“Rebounding is one of our weaknesses; we’re not an overly big team and we have trouble rebounding at times, and Stanford is very physical. They shot 25 free throws, we shot eight. That shows you a difference right there.”

“Stanford has three seniors, all-league-type players, and they’re very, very good — especially here. It’s just frustrating for everybody that we haven’t been able to win a few more games, because we’ve played hard enough and well enough to have a few more wins.”