Stanford 71 - 60 Northwestern
Final
  for this game

Stanford survives first road test, downs Northwestern

Nov 16, 2007 - 6:55 AM EVANSTON, Illinois (Ticker) -- Stanford hardly struggled winning three games to open the season in a tournament they hosted. Going on the road for the first time proved a bit more difficult.

Anthony Goods scored 19 points to lead the 20th-ranked Cardinal to a hard-fought 71-60 victory on Thursday over Northwestern.

Stanford (3-0) pounded Harvard, Northwestern State and UC Santa Barbara in consecutive days by an average margin of 37.6 points to capture the Basketball Travelers Classic championship on their home court. By virtue of their three season-opening wins, the Cardinal are off to their best start since a school-best 26-0 run to begin the 2003-04 campaign.

Even though Stanford held the lead throughout the first half, they could not establish a double-digit lead against the pesky Wildcats (0-1).

"You kinda forget what the road is like, but you always know it's going to be hard," Goods said. "That's one thing that is always consistent."

After Goods nailed a 3-pointer to give Stanford an early 11-2 advantage at the 13:30 mark of the first half, Northwestern's Craig Moore hit shots from the arc to bookend a 12-3 run over the next 4:19 to knot the game at 14-14.

However, Goods made his mark after intermission, scoring 14 points, including 12 of the Cardinal's first 18.

Northwestern cut into Stanford's lead over the course of the final 20 minutes, cutting a 13-point bulge with just over 15 minutes left to 59-56 with 3:34 remaining on a 3-pointer by Michael Thompson.

"They put a run on us in the second half after we got up," Goods said. "It was a tough game."

But Goods hit two free throws to spark a game-ending 12-4 run to pull away from the Wildcats.

Robin Lopez finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and five blocks for the Cardinal, who managed a 45-24 advantage on the boards.

"Last year, I blocked quite a few shots and I actually haven't had that many come at me this year," Lopez said. "Northwestern was just really aggressive and there were just a lot more opportunities."

Thompson poured in 16 points - all in the second half - and Sterling Williams added 10 for Northwestern.






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