Spencer Jones and Jaiden Delaire triggered a second-half run with 3-pointers Tuesday night and host Stanford rallied from behind to open its basketball season with a 62-50 nonconference victory over Tarleton State.
Highly touted freshman Harrison Ingram debuted with a game-high 16 points and Delaire had 14 off the bench for the Cardinal, who hope to get back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.
Montre Gipson scored 15 points and Tahj Small had 11 for the Texans, who went 10-10 last season in their first season in Division I.
Tarleton led 35-28 after a Jonathan Jackson Jr. dunk with 14:17 remaining before Stanford quickly seized control with dominant play at both ends of the floor.
After Jones and Delaire hit treys to trim the gap to one, Delaire added three free throws and Isa Silva contributed a hoop before Ingram and Maxime Raynaud threw down dunks in a 15-0 flurry that gave the Cardinal a 43-35 advantage with 9:05 to go.
The Texans missed eight consecutive shots, including three 3-point attempts, during their drought.
Small finally got Tarleton back on the board with a layup with 7:09 to play, and when Jackson converted from inside, the visitors were back within four with 6:56 to play.
However, Ingram turned a layup into a three-point play, and Jones and Silva followed with 3-pointers, helping Stanford pull away for good.
Ingram finished 7-for-11 from the field and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Lukas Kisunas was a third Cardinal scoring in double figures with 12 points.
Gipson, Freddy Hicks and Shakur Daniel all connected on a pair of 3-pointers for the Texans, who outscored the Cardinal 21-18 from beyond the arc.
Stanford got much the better of it at the foul line, however, going 16-for-22, while Tarleton was sent to the stripe just three times, making one.
Daniel totaled 10 points for the Texans, while Small was the game’s leading rebounder with eight.
–Field Level Media
