Stanford 65, Lafayette 59
Stanford survived a scare by visiting Lafayette, before the Cardinal fought off a second-half surge in winning for the fifth time in their last six games with a 65-59 victory Saturday night at the Maples Pavilion.
The Cardinal, who improved to 9-4 overall, were led by Chasson Randle's 16 points and Rosco Allen, who had 11.
Lafayette, which fell to 5-10 and 0-8 on the road, was led by a game-high 17 from Joey Ptasinski and Seth Hinrichs added 16.
It looked like an easy one from the start, when Stanford got out to a 5-0 lead, and went into halftime with a 32-24 edge.
Rebounding was the difference. Stanford out-boarded the Leopards 46-26, including 14 offensive rebounds. Stanford opened a 34-24 lead early in the second half, but the Cardinal got sloppy with the ball. Stanford had 13 turnovers, and the Leopards' Dan Trist made those miscues pay off when he gave Lafayette its only lead of the game, 45-43, on a driving layup with 9:03 left.
Stanford went on a 7-0 run to retake control of the game and went ahead 54-46 with 4:56 to play on a layup by Allen, who scored eight of Stanford's last 12 points.
A Ptasinski three-pointer pulled Lafayette to within 61-59 with :27 left, but a pair of Aaron Bright free throws with :20 left sealed the victory for Stanford.
Lafayette, which has been on the road at Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota and now Stanford, will make a welcome return back home in Easton, Pa., against New Jersey Tech on January 2. Stanford kicks off its Pac-12 schedule at USC on January 3.
