Stanford outlasts Illinois State 92-88 in overtime

[March 20, 2012]  STANFORD, Calif. -- Tyler Brown, Jackie Carmichael and Nic Moore each scored 20 points, but it wasn't enough as Illinois State fell at Stanford 92-88 in overtime Monday night in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at Maples Pavilion.

The loss dropped Illinois State to 21-14 on the season and eliminated the Redbirds from the tournament. Stanford improved to 23-11 overall and will host Nevada in the quarterfinals Wednesday night.

Moore finished with 25 points, while Brown and Carmichael had 23 and 21, respectively. Stanford was led by Aaron Bright's 29 points.

At 47-40, Stanford took its largest lead to that point in the game, but the Redbirds responded with the long-range shooting of Moore. The ISU freshman drained a pair of 3s at the top of key to pull the Redbirds within one point, 49-48. ISU continued its 3-point barrage and took a 59-52 lead with 13:00 left in the game on a pair of 3s by Brown and another by Jon Ekey.

Illinois State pushed its lead to 11 points, 71-60, on a 3 by Bryant Allen with 9:01 left in the game. Stanford responded with a 14-3 run and forced a 74-74 tie. Carmichael put ISU up 76-74 with a pair of free throws. Stanford's Chasson Randle cut the lead to one with a free throw, but then put the Cardinal up 78-76 after draining a 3 following his missed second free throw. Brown added a pair of made free throws for ISU and the game was tied 78-78 with one minute left in regulation.

After a Stanford miss, Illinois State called timeout with 35.9 seconds left. Brown drove the baseline out of the huddle and stepped on the line after being forced out of bounds. The Cardinal called their final timeout with 20.6 seconds to draw up the potential winning play, but Randle missed a 3-point try from the wing and sent the Redbirds into their third straight overtime game.

The two teams traded the lead six times in the extra period, before Stanford was able to build a four-point cushion on a 3-pointer by Randle. After a running layup by Moore, the Redbirds put Anthony Brown on the line shooting two, but Brown sank both shots and Stanford walked away with a 92-88 win.

Both teams had a slow start offensively out of the gate. Illinois State cracked the scoring column first, with a pair of free throws from Brown. After sinking a 3-pointer, the Redbird junior had scored five of the first seven Redbird points, and the game was knotted 7-7 at the first media timeout.

The Cardinal made the first run of the game and held a six-point lead, 20-14, with 11 minutes left in the first half. Illinois State regained the lead 31-30 on Ekey's 3-pointer at the 5:17 mark of the first half. It appeared as if the game was going to be tied 38-38 at the half, but Aaron Bright sank his fourth 3-pointer of the half with four seconds left to give Stanford the 41-38 lead. The Cardinal shot 7 for 10 on 3s in the first half and 53.6 percent from the field.

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Official statistics: box score and play-by-play

[Text from file received from Illinois State]