A jubilant pileup of Cardinal players, more reminiscent of a football game, manifested at the end of Stanford’s game against USC in Maples Pavilion.
The reason? Freshman guard Daejon Davis, at the bottom of the pile, made a 50-foot shot at the buzzer to win the game and give Stanford its second conference (and comeback) victory.
Stanford men’s basketball (8-8, 2-1 Pac-12) defeated USC (11-6, 2-2) 77-76 on Sunday night after falling behind by 15 points with 10 minutes remaining in the game.
Tied at 74-all, Trojans guard Jordan McLaughlin made an incredibly difficult layup over 6-foot-8 freshman forward Kezie Okpala to give USC the lead with 1.7 seconds left. Davis took the inbound towards the left side of the court and fired the game-winner just in time.
“I saw the tough shot he made and all I was thinking was how much time we had,” Davis said. “I saw 1.7 and realized I was on the left side, which is easier for me. I know my shot bends from that side and I knew it had a chance.”
Although Davis’ shot was the story of the game, senior forward Reid Travis helped keep Stanford afloat by tying his career-high in points with 29, and he also grabbed 10 rebounds for the double-double.
The freshmen were big in the comeback over UCLA on and they flashed their growth again on Sunday. Davis, the hero of the game, scored nine points, dished out six assists and grabbed five rebounds. The other starting freshman, Okpala, scored 11 points and used his length to collect a team-high three steals.
The Cardinal got off to a fast start as they led by nine points five minutes into the game, but three three-pointers, a layup and an assist by McLaughlin gave the Trojans its first lead of the game at 15-13.
The lead would seesaw between the two teams for a couple of minutes before the Trojans slowly increased its lead to 11 at halftime. Stanford allowed USC to hit 7-of-12 on three-point shots.
Travis put the Cardinal on his back to start the second half as an 11-point spurt by Travis cut the Trojans lead to 51-49 with 16 minutes remaining. USC countered Stanford’s run with one of its own and took a 15-point lead into the final 10 minutes of the game. The run was spurred by Trojans forwards Chimezie Metu and Nick Rakocevic.
The Cardinal chipped back into the lead and tied the game at 72-all on Okpala’s jumper with two minutes. Davis and Metu traded two-point buckets before Davis ended the game for good.
After allowing the Trojans to wreak havoc from deep range in the first half, Stanford only allowed one made three-point shot for the second half.
“We locked in on defense,” Travis said. “[The Trojans] were getting their threes and we wanted to take them away. They were also getting a lot of offensive rebounds on us.”
Stanford will take this momentum on a Washington road trip first to Pullman to play Washington State on Thursday at 6 p.m. and then onwards to Seattle for a showdown against Washington on Saturday at 5 p.m. The games will be televised on ESPNU and Pac-12 Networks, respectively.
Contact Jose Saldana at jsaldana ‘at’ stanford.edu.