Wildcats hold Cardinal to 26 points after the break in rallying from 11 down to win 82-71
TUCSON — Oumar Ballo had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 11 Arizona turned up the defensive intensity after halftime as the Wildcats defeated Stanford 82-71 on Sunday night in McKale Center.
Caleb Love had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Wildcats (17-5, 8-3 Pac-12), who outscored the Cardinal 48-26 after halftime. Arizona held Stanford (11-10, 6-5) to 28.1 percent shooting (9 of 32) from the floor in the second half.
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Junior center Maxime Raynaud scored a career-high 29 points for Stanford, which was without its leading scorer Kanaan Carlyle (upper-body injury), who is averaging 14.3 points per game. Raynaud, who entered the game having made 8 of 28 3-pointers, was 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Stanford’s Michael Jones scored 21 and made 5 of 11 3-point attempts.
Arizona’s comeback was fueled by the interior presence of Ballo, who had a double-double just in the second half with 10 points and 10 boards. Pelle Larsson contributed 17 points in the win.
Stanford led 45-34 at halftime on the strength of nine made 3-pointers, but Arizona closed the gap quickly with an 8-0 run to start the second half. Soon after, the Wildcats used a 13-0 burst to take a 59-52 lead at the 9:39 mark.
Arizona’s lead was 69-65 with 4:17 left, but a dunk by Ballo and a layup by KJ Lewis expanded the edge to 73-65 with 1:19 to go.
Lewis had 12 points off the bench and helped lead the stingy defensive effort.
Stanford sophomore Benny Gealer made his first career start, stepping in for Carlyle, who scored 28 points in the Cardinal’s 100-81 victory over Arizona on Dec. 31. Gealer finished with four points and nine assists.
Stanford made six of its first seven 3-point attempts and took a 26-17 lead with 12:14 to go in the first half. But the Wildcats stormed back to tie the score at 28.
Stanford got hot again, making seven consecutive shots and finishing the half on a 15-2 run to take a 45-34 lead at the break. Raynaud poured in 21 points in the half.
–Field Level Media
