On Saturday, Stanford men’s basketball fell to Washington State by a final score of 72-59 on the road in Pullman. Washington State forward Jaylen Wells (15 points) and forward Isaac Jones (15 points & 5 rebounds) were the top scorers for the Cougars while guard Myles Rice (14 points) and forward Andrej Jakimovski (13 points & 6 rebounds) also scored in double figures. Stanford senior forward Brandon Angel (15 points) was the top scorer for the Cardinal.
BOX SCORE: Stanford at Washington State-Saturday, February 17th
Stanford got out to an early 7-5 lead with 15:33 to go in the first half. Kanaan Carlyle was up to five points for the Cardinal, doing a nice job of being in attack mode.
Washington State would lead 15-9 with 11:26 to go in the half. The Cougars were on a 13-2 run over the last 5:56. Stanford needed to find a way to reverse the momentum.
Washington State would expand their lead to go up 26-16 with 7:30 to go in the half. Isaac Jones was up to seven points for Washington State while Carlyle was up to seven points. Washington State was shooting 8-16 from the field while Stanford was shooting 6-15.
Stanford then woke up and got going, finally snapping out of their funk. As a result, it was now just a three point (31-28) lead for Washington State with 3:16 to go in the half. Stanford was stepping up on both ends of the floor. Their defensive intensity had picked up and they also were moving the ball well. Maxime Raynaud was up to four points after a couple buckets inside while Brandon Angel was up to seven points. Andrej Stojakovic also was on the board after rattling home a three.
After a nice layup by Benny Gealer to close the half, Stanford led 36-35 at halftime. They were back in the game after trailing by 10 points. Angel’s 10 points led Stanford while Wells’ eight points was leading Washington State. It was a tight game.
With 15:57 to go, Stanford led 44-42. Angel had a nice three-point play. The Cardinal were hanging tough, clearly having woken up from their Seattle slumber.
Stanford would still lead 51-50 with 11:58 to go. Washington State went on a run, but Stanford had responded. Raynaud had a nice tip-in to give the Cardinal the lead. He was doing a nice job inside.
Washington State then pulled ahead to lead 59-53 with 7:06 to go. The Cougars were on a 7-0 run over the last 2:19. Stanford needed to wake up offensively and get a bucket on their next possession. Wells’ 13 points was leading the Cougars while Angel’s 15 points led Stanford.
Washington State then led 63-55 with 4:31 to go. The Cougars were starting to pull away. Carlyle had a really nice reverse layup, but it appeared to be too little too late.
Washington State continued to expand their lead, going up 68-55 with 3:29 to go. At this point, it was clear that this one was in the books. The Cardinal played well for the first 30 minutes but faded away in the final 10 minutes.
In the end, Washington State won by a final score of 72-59. It took a bit of time for the game to end due to some reviews, but it was all academic. Washington State had this game won with three minutes to go.
For Stanford, this is a disappointing but not surprising result. Washington State is a really good team and is now half a game back of Arizona for first place in the Pac-12. When Stanford laid the egg that they did at Washington, they had to know bouncing back in Pullman was going to be tough.
As for Washington State, hats off to them. Kyle Smith has his guys playing really well and they’re all bought in. He’s probably going to be your Pac-12 Coach of the Year as he has the Cougars on the verge of making the NCAA tournament.
Up next for Stanford is a home game against Oregon on Thursday, February 22nd. Tipoff is set for 8:00 PM PT on ESPN2.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook & X (Twitter): @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, & X (Twitter): @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
