Cardinal pull off 71-69 victory over Huskies in Pac-12

LAS VEGAS (AP) Chasson Randle was having a forgetful night, missing contested shots and open shots.

He got one to fall at just the right time, turning it into a memorable night.

Randle hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left after Marcus Allen grabbed an offensive rebound, lifting Stanford to a 71-69 win over Washington in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament Wednesday night.

''I don't think about it; every shot is a new shot,'' said Randle, who was 2 for 10 from the field before hitting his last-second shot. ''My teammates told me to keep shooting it, so I kept shooting it and I made a big shot.''

Washington (16-15) shot at a blistering pace throughout the second half and led 69-68, but Dan Kingma missed a free throw with 29 seconds left to give Stanford a shot.

The sixth-seeded Cardinal (19-12) ended up getting two.

Rosco Allen missed a jumper, but Marcus Allen fought to get the rebound and kicked it out to Randle. He fired without hesitation and Washington's Andrew Andrews missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the Cardinal in the quarterfinals against third-seeded Utah.

''It came down to the last play. Two teams fighting, battling hard,'' Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said. ''I just wish some kind of way I could fix it for our guys because our guys played their hearts out.''

Stefan Nastic had 21 points for Stanford, Brown added 16 and Randle 10.

''He's going to take the big shots for us throughout his career and that's not changing,'' Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. ''On a night he was struggling, he hit the biggest shot of them all for us and I'm really happy for him.''

Andrews scored 22 points and Nigel Williams-Goss added 16 for the Huskies, who made 15 of 25 shots in the second half and 13 of 20 from 3-point range, yet still couldn't pull out the victory.

Washington went 0 for 3 on free throws to become the first team in tournament history to not make one from the line - none bigger than the missed front end of a one-and-one by Kingma, a walk-on freshman.

''I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet,'' Romar said. ''But we'll talk.''

Stanford was in good shape for an NCAA Tournament berth after opening 7-2 in the Pac-12. The Cardinal left themselves pretty much needing an automatic bid after stumbling down the stretch.

Stanford closed the season with seven losses in nine games, dropping them to the sixth seed.

Washington had a more acute fall.

The Huskies started the season with 11 straight wins, then had four stretches of four straight losses after that.

Stanford won the two meetings this season - one in overtime - but Washington was coming off one of its best games of the season after knocking off Utah in its season finale.

The Huskies got a big lift from an unexpected place in the first half. Kingma, a 5-foot-10 walk-on, hit three 3-pointers and had nine points in the first half to help Washington tie the Cardinal at 32.

Stanford established Nastic in the post early, setting him up for shots in the lane and opening things up for the Cardinal perimeter shooters.

Nastic had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, though Randle missed all three of his shots and had two points at halftime.

Washington couldn't seem to miss to start the second half, hitting 10 of its first 12 shots, including all four of its 3-point attempts. Andrews was feeling it, too, hitting a series of midrange jumpers while scoring 15 points in the second half.

The Cardinal hung with the Huskies by getting the ball inside to Nastic and Travis, setting up a back and forth finish.

---

TIP-INS

Stanford: Anthony Brown missed a breakaway dunk with about 4 minutes left in the second half, clanking the ball off the back iron. ... Stanford had a 36-10 advantage in the paint.

Washington: The Huskies made 6 of 9 from 3-point range in the first half. ... Mike Anderson had 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Stanford faces Utah in the tournament quarterfinals.

Washington is hoping for a non-NCAA Tournament postseason bid.