Field Level Media
Nov 23, 2018
Sophomore guard KZ Okpala scored 22 points to lead Stanford to a 67-54 win over Middle Tennessee in the seventh-place game of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in Nassau on Friday night.
Josh Sharma was the only other Cardinal in double figures, scoring 10 points, while Daejon Davis finished with a game-high 10 rebounds.
Stanford (3-3) was able to ride a terrific defensive effort against Middle Tennessee despite having offensive issues.
Junior guard Antonio Green scored 21 points and freshman guard Jayce Johnson added 14 points, five rebounds, two steals and two blocks for the Blue Raiders (3-4).
The Cardinal shot just 38.2 percent from the field (21 of 55) and committed 21 turnovers, while forcing 22 turnovers and holding the Blue Raiders to 35.1 percent shooting from the field (20 of 58).
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The Blue Raiders also finished 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Tied at 18-all with seven minutes remaining in the first half, Stanford produced an 11-0 run over a span of 2:36 to grab a 29-18 lead and took a 32-23 advantage into halftime.
The Cardinal went on another big run in the second half behind a 13-4 spurt over a span of 5:49 to take a 47-31 lead with 11:56 left in the game.
The lead continued to grow for Stanford, which went up by 57-39 with 5:19 remaining.
The Blue Raiders did make a minor run late in the game, going on a 9-1 spurt to cut Stanford's lead to 10 at 58-48 with 3:05 to go.
Middle Tennessee had a chance to cut the lead to single digits, but came up empty on a possession and saw Stanford go on a 5-0 run to take a 63-48 lead with 1:27 remaining and essentially put the game away.
Stanford finished 1-2 in Nassau, losing to Wisconsin and Florida in the earlier rounds. Middle Tennessee placed eighth, also falling to to No. 4 Virginia and Butler.
--Field Level Media