STANFORD, Calif. — Freshman guard Chasson Randle has developed into a solid leader for Stanford in a short time. Then again, he has a pretty good mentor in Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins, one of the top point guards in the nation while at Duke.
Randle scored 18 points and made four 3-pointers to help Stanford beat Colorado 84-64 on Saturday.
“He’s a very mature young player for a freshman,” Dawkins said. “He’s poised. He did not commit a turnover, which means he made good decisions with the basketball and made our offense more efficient.”
Randle has reached double figures in each of his last three games, which includes a season best 24 in last week’s four-overtime win at Oregon State.
“I feel like we executed well,” Randle said. “This was definitely one of our best performances on both ends of the court. For us, it’s all about getting better.”
Josh Huestis matched his career high with 13 points for the Cardinal (15-3, 5-1 Pac-12), who improved to 11-1 at home with their third straight victory. Aaron Bright added 14 points and Josh Owens 10 points and seven rebounds.
“We feel like we are a good matchup for anybody,” Huestis said. “We just played harder.”
Andre Roberson scored 15 points to lead the Buffaloes (11-6, 3-2), who lost their second straight following a six-game winning streak. Austin Dufault added 14 points, Carlon Brown 13 and Spencer Dinwiddle 10.
“Our defense wasn’t good enough to keep us in the game,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. “We’ve got to be tougher. Every time we step into the weight room, we’ve got to remember this game. We got manhandled out there.”
Stanford opened a 27-point lead with just over seven minutes remaining.
The Cardinal held a 21-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
Anthony Brown, who finished with eight points, hit consecutive 3-pointers midway through the second half to highlight a 24-3 run for the Cardinal that resulted in a 74-47 edge. Boyle drew a technical foul during the run, in which the Buffaloes were 1 of 8 from the floor with four turnovers.
“Momentum is a big part of college basketball,” Boyle said. “We tried to call a couple timeouts to try and stem the tide, but they made big shots when they had to.”
Randle’s layup with 2:16 left in the first half gave Stanford a 37-28 lead en route to a 39-33 halftime advantage. There were six lead changes in the first 20 minutes.
“Offensively, he did a good job of keeping us in the game,” Dawkins said. “Our ball movement was as good as it’s been all year.”
Stanford’s Andy Brown, who missed his last three years of basketball with knee injuries, sank one of two free throws for his first college point. He played three minutes in his second appearance of the season.
Members of the Stanford football team took to the court during the intermission for a coaches vs. players contest.
Among the participants were linebacker A.J. Tarpley and graduate assistant coach Tavita Pritchard, who preceded Andrew Luck at quarterback and briefly played basketball for Stanford. No score was kept.
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