Junseok Yeo had 15 points and went 3 of 6 from 3-point range, and Will Heimbrodt had 13 points and seven blocks as Seattle rallied out of a 13-point hole to defeat Stanford 77-69 on Friday night in Palo Alto, California.
Houran Dan added 11 points and Maleek Arlington had nine points and a team-high seven rebounds for the Redhawks (4-1), who have now won three straight. Brayden Maldonado, who led Seattle in scoring heading into Friday’s game, was held scoreless until 1:08 remained in the first half and finished the night with eight points.
Ebuka Okorie finished the evening with 17 points and five defensive rebounds for the Cardinal (4-1), who were aiming to start their season 5-0 for the first time in back-to-back seasons since 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
Chisom Okpara had 14 points and AJ Rohosy, who was averaging 9.5 points per game heading into Friday’s matchup, added 12 points. Jeremy Dent-Smith scored six points off the bench.
Yeo started the game off with a 3-point shot as the Redhawks went on to take an early 5-1 lead. Seattle had a 12-8 lead with 14 minutes left in the first half as Stanford shot just 3 for 8 and ran into turnover trouble. Rohosy tied the game at 13-13 with 12:30 to go before Okpara drained a layup and gave the Cardinal its first lead in the back-and-forth battle.
Dent-Smith made the Cardinal’s first 3-pointer of the night to give Stanford a 30-27 lead with 5:47 to play before Seattle’s John Christofilis responded with his own shot from beyond the arc to tie the game up 30-30. Dent-Smith made his second 3-point shot of the night with seconds left on the clock to give Stanford a 41-37 advantage heading into halftime. The Cardinal finished the first half leading on the stat sheet as well, with 22 points in the paint and 16 total rebounds, while outshooting Seattle 51.7% compared to 44.8%.
Rohosy’s layup to two minutes into the second half put Stanford up 50-39. The Redhawks battled to cut into the deficit, but went 0 for 6 on field goals and turned the ball over four times in three minutes as Benny Gealer’s second 3-point shot of the night made it 57-44 with 10:56 to play.
Seattle went on a 10-0 run to bring the score to 57-54 with 6:50 left on the clock, before Gealer ended Stanford’s scoring drought with a 3-point shot with 6:41 remaining.
Arlington hit a shot from 3-point range to bring the score to 63-62 with 4:55 left, and gave Seattle the lead back on an and-one layup with 2:19 left to make it 67-65.
Up 69-67, the Redhawks went on a 6-0 run, including four free-throw shots from Maldonado, to extend the lead. Okpara, Dent-Smith and Aidan Cammann all missed 3-point shots in the final minutes of play to seal Stanford’s fate.
Stanford will now prepare to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Pennsylvania on Thanksgiving, and Seattle returns home host the Texas State Bobcats on Friday, Nov. 28.
