By In the battle of unique college hoops nicknames, Stanford handed Long Beach its second loss of the season in convincing fashion at Maples Pavilion, 86-58.
The Beach (1-2) struggled mightily against the Cardinal (3-0) defense, committing 19 turnovers and were unable to find their usual scoring spots.
Freshman guard Max De Geest was one of the few bright spots for the Beach, leading the team with 13 points and three 3-pointers late in the second half. Senior guard Jordan Griffin sank two threes of his own and finished with 12 points.
[aesop_image img=”http://lbcurrent.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/AUS_7030.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”Austin Brumblay / Daily Forty-Niner ” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionsrc=”custom” caption=”Long Beach State head coach Dan Monson yells at a referee after a called foul against the Beach Saturday, Nov. 9. ” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
Coming off of 19 points at UCLA and 21 against San Diego, sophomore guard Chance Hunter came into Tuesday night’s game tied for the Big West’s scoring lead with UC Santa Barbara’s senior guard Max Heidegger. Hunter finished with five points in 15 minutes.
After the first half, Stanford’s athleticism, length and perfectly executed assortment of backdoor cuts, ball fakes and layups wore down the Beach on both ends, resulting in 47-22 lead.
Sophomore guard Michael Carter III, who came into the game averaging 17 points per game, was held scoreless before sinking two free throws with 16:57 left in the second half.
Stanford’s sophomore forward Jaiden Delaire led the Cardinal off of the bench with a career-high 14 points. Junior forward Oscar da Silva followed up with 12 points of his own, along with seven rebounds and four assists.
“We’re trying to establish ourselves as an elite defensive team,” Delaire said.
Both teams extended their rotations 12-deep, which saw the debut of redshirt freshman center Jeffrey Yan for the Beach by the end of the game.
Long Beach State will look to upset their first ranked opponent of the season Thursday against No. 18 St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. at McKeon Pavilion.
This article was updated 11/13 at 11:23 a.m. correcting da Silva’s points scored from 14 to 12.
