The Stanford Cardinal opened the 2009-2010 campaign with an exhibition
contest against the Sonoma State Seawolves, an NCAA Division II program and
member of the California Collegiate Athletic Association. In front of a
sparse crowd at Maples Pavilion, including about 100 6th Man Club members, the
Cardinal were able to make a strong run to start the second half, getting their
lead up to as many as 35, before ultimately defeating Sonoma State by a final
score of 82-61.
Stanford started the game with Landry Fields, Drew Shiller, Da’Veed Dildy,
Andrew Zimmerman, and Elliott Bullock on the floor. This combination began
the game by hitting two three-pointers, one from Dildy and another from Shiller,
but the Seawolves countered with two long balls of their own to keep things
close. A nice move by Fields inside the paint pushed the Cardinal lead
back to four, 10-6, at the first media timeout.
The Cardinal began to establish their presence after the time out, bolting
out to a 20-10 lead after a series of layups by Zimmerman, Fields, and Jarrett Mann. Sonoma State’s Jason Walter hit a long three-pointer from the right
wing to stem the tide, but the Seawolves’ bench received a technical foul for
arguing calls, a first for this writer during an exhibition game. Dildy
made one of the two free throws after the media stoppage, but Stanford was not
able to push the lead further after two consecutive turnovers.
Midway through the first half, Sonoma State broke out the zone against the
Cardinal, helping them keep pace with Stanford as they trailed by just eight,
28-20, with 7:09 remaining in the first half. The Seawolves would get as
close as five before the Cardinal would run off eight in a row over a 50-second
span, including a Zimmerman three-pointer just right of top of the key, giving
them their biggest advantage of the night, 38-25, with 4:07 remaining.
Stanford would eventually go up by 18 before a Chris Weber long ball from the
left wing stopped the bleeding. Sonoma State continued to regain their
footing in the final four minutes of the half, cutting the lead to 14 at one
point, before a baseline jumper by Trotter right before the buzzer set the lead
going into the half at 47-30.
At the half, Stanford was shooting 60% from the floor, including 6-11 from
the three-point arc, while making five of eight from the charity stripe.
Sonoma State was not quite equal to the numbers the Cardinal put up, but still
managed to make 50% of their shots, were four of nine from deep, and made four
of their six freebies. Stanford outrebounded Sonoma State 18-8, had 14
assists to the Seawolves’ five, and committed nine turnovers to the visitors’
12.
Fields led the way with 11 for Stanford, followed by eight each for walk-on
Emmanuel Igbinosa and Jack Trotter. Sonoma State was led by Steven Pratt
who had eight points on three-of-three shooting.
The second half started with the Cardinal making just one change to their
opening tip lineup, going with Mann instead of Shiller. Despite some
sloppy play from both sides, the Cardinal managed to go on a 12-2 run to
increase their halftime lead to 27, 59-32, fueled with shots by Dildy,
Zimmerman, and Bullock, before the first media timeout of the second 20 minutes
of play. This run seemed to take the steam out of Sonoma State, bringing
slumped shoulders and less communication on the floor.
After the timeout, the Seawolves brought their zone back out, which did
appear to stem the Cardinal momentum for a short period of time, however,
Stanford was ready for it, coming up with timely rebounds and the third
three-pointer of the game for Igbinosa to get the lead up to 29, 64-35, with
just over 12 minutes to go. The next few minutes saw the Cardinal bring
some of its bench into the exhibition, including new walk-on Peter Abraham, who
is so new that he doesn’t even have his name on his jersey, and Mater Daian, who
looks completely different without his shaggy hair.
Stanford got five points from Mann, including a nice move in the paint and a
three-pointer from the left wing, to increase the lead to 35, 74-39, with just
under nine minutes to go. The Cardinal offense, though, appeared to slow
as they made liberal substitutions, allowing the Seawolves to go on a modest 8-2
streak before a Mann three-pointer from the left wing got the Cardinal back up
33, with 4:40 remaining in the game. Sonoma State seemed to get one last
burst of energy after the last timeout of the game, getting the lead down to its
final margin of 21 in the waning moments before succumbing to the Cardinal on
Stanford’s home floor.
For the game, Stanford shot an even 50% from the floor, 50% from the
three-point arc, and made 53% from the charity stripe. Sonoma State
finished the contest making 51% of their shots overall, including 44% from deep,
and shot 52% from the free-throw line. Stanford outrebounded Sonoma State
43-22, including a 16-2 margin on the offensive glass, dished out 22 assists to
the Seawolves’ 12, and committed 16 turnovers to the visitors’ 20.
Fields led the way with 15 for Stanford on 7-11 shootin. He was
followed by four others in double-digits, including a double-double for
Zimmerman (13 and 10), 11 points each from Igbinosa and Mann, and 10 out of
Trotter. Sonoma State was led by Steven Pratt who had 13 points.
Next in line for the Seawolves was Mike Nelson with nine for the Seawolves.
Stanford opens the regular season next Friday, the 13th, against the
University of San Diego Toreros at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Toreros,
voted to finish 6th in the West Coast Conference amongst members of the media,
host the Cardinal at 7:00pm in what will also be their season
opener.
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