Ebuka Okorie contributed eight of his game-high 30 points to a 13-0 flurry to begin the second half and Stanford completed an 11-win nonconference schedule with an 88-80 victory over visiting Cal State Northridge in men’s basketball Saturday night.
Chisom Okpara aided the Stanford cause with 20 points as the Cardinal (11-2) built up additional momentum for their Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Notre Dame this week with a fourth consecutive win.
Larry Hughes II had a team-high 26 points for the Matadors (8-6, 1-1), who saw a four-game winning streak come to an end in their nonconference finale.
After Stanford had made just two of its 12 3-point attempts while falling behind 38-33 at halftime, Okorie opened the second period with a pair of 3-pointers in the first 61 seconds. He added two free throws, Okpara put home a layup and Ryan Agarwal drained a 3-pointer, the latter capping a 13-0 burst that flipped the game in the Cardinal’s favor at 46-38.
The Matadors fell behind by as many as 12, but never gave up the chase, drawing even at 69-all with 7:34 to play at the end of a 10-0 run. Josiah Davis had six of the points in the spurt, four coming at the free throw line.
Okpara stopped the bleeding with two foul shots of his own 27 seconds later, and when Agarwal dropped in consecutive layups, Stanford had regained a 75-69 lead at the 5:33 mark.
Northridge got no closer than three after that. Benny Gealer’s 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining doubled Stanford’s lead the last time the Matadors got within one score.
Okorie’s 30 points were two shy of his season high, set in the Cardinal’s previous game against Colorado.
Stanford finished at 48.1% from the field, converting 17 of 30 shots (56.7%) in the final 20 minutes.
Gealer, who led the Cardinal in assists with five, hit four of his six shots — all from behind the arc — en route to 13 points, while Agarwal, who tied teammate Aidan Cammann for game-high rebound honors with eight, went 4-for-7 on a 10-point night.
Hughes scored 19 of his 26 points in the first half, when he made five of his six 3-point attempts. He finished the game 6-for-10 from deep.
Joshua O’Garro (15), Mahmoud Fofana (11), Davius Loury (11) and Davis (10) also scored in double figures for the Matadors. Fofana was the team’s leading rebounder with seven and Davis the game leader in assists with six.
Stanford outscored Northridge, 18-6, on fast-break points.
–Field Level Media
