Humphrey, Pickens lead Stanford past Sacramento state 70-60
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) Michael Humphrey stayed aggressive even after picking up his fourth foul midway through the second half and did most of his best work down the stretch.
Humphrey scored a career-high 21 points, Dorian Pickens added 20 and Stanford defeated Sacramento State 70-60 on Monday night.
''All we talked about was winning,'' Humphrey said. ''Even if I did foul out, I have confidence in my teammates.''
Humphrey went to the basket hard, scoring on layups twice in the final three minutes. He also had seven of his nine rebounds in the second half and helped Stanford grab 19 offensive rebounds.
''That's something we worked on,'' Cardinal coach Johnny Dawkins said. ''We didn't do that very well our last game.''
Without Humphrey in the game, Sacramento State outscored Stanford 30-22.
''The last four minutes, we were at our best,'' Dawkins said. ''We turned up the intensity on defense.''
Rosco Allen had 11 points and a season-best 12 rebounds for Stanford (6-4), which has won five of its last six.
Eric Stuteville scored 19 points for Sacramento State (6-4) before fouling out with just over five minutes remaining to play. Cody Demps fouled out two minutes later with eight points and eight assists.
Marcus Graves had 11 points for the Hornets, who have lost three of their last four.
''I loved the way our guys fought through the whole game,'' Hornets coach Brian Katz said. ''We stayed right with them the whole way, but their offensive rebounding was probably the difference. They were tough all night under the boards, especially in the second half.''
Grant Verhoeven hit 1 of 2 free throws midway through the second half to put the Cardinal ahead 52-42.
The Hornets rallied to tie the game at 56 with 5:47 left on a Stuteville layup but Stanford went on a run to pull away.
Dreon Barlett had his streak of 78 consecutive games played end for Sacramento State due to concussion protocol, which he sustained during a recent practice. He was on the bench wearing sweats.
Justin Strings, a sophomore, made his first career start and had 10 points to reach double figures for the eighth time in 10 games.
''We got into some foul trouble and that also was a factor,'' Katz said. ''But I think we come away with the knowledge that we played very tough against one of the better teams we'll see this year.''
Stuteville's 3-point play gave the Hornets a 19-10 lead midway through the first half. Stanford went on a 14-2 run after that and eventually took a 36-33 advantage at halftime.
---
TIP-INS
Sacramento State: The Hornets entered play 4-36 all-time against the Pac-12 Conference, but had won three of their last eight, including a victory at Arizona State in the season opener. They had a chance to beat two Pac-12 teams in the same season for the first time in program history. ... The Hornets have been outrebounded in seven straight.
Stanford: The Cardinal used their sixth different starting lineup, with Pickens re-entering the starting lineup. Rosco Allen is the only player to start all 10 games. ... With projected starting guard Robert Cartwright out for the season due to injury, only freshmen Josh Sharma and Cameron Walker have not started for the Cardinal.
UP NEXT
Sacramento State hosts Pacific Union next Monday night.
Stanford hosts Carroll College on Sunday night.
