CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Maxime Raynaud’s 23 points and Jaylen Blakes’ 21 points combined with clutch baskets from backups Benny Gealer and Chisom Okpara enabled Stanford to survive its first Atlantic Coast Conference tournament game with a 78-73 second-round win over California Wednesday night.
Stanford’s late burst countered a 37-point outing by Cal’s Andrej Stojakovic.
Gealer hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer following an offensive rebound with 1:21 left to put Stanford ahead. Stojakovic responded with a basket and then the Bears got the ball back on Christian Tucker’s steal. But Raynaud blocked Stojakovic’s shot, which led to Okpara’s 3-point play.
Seventh-seeded Stanford (20-12), which had a first-round bye, meets No. 13 Louisville (25-6), the second seed, in Thursday night’s quarterfinals.
Oziyah Sellers added 13 points and Okpara had 12 points for Stanford.
DJ Campbell’s 19 points and 10 rebounds and Mady Sissoko’s 11 points boosted No. 15 seed Cal (14-19), which shot 52.8 percent from the field. Stojakovic went 13-for-22, which included four 3-pointers.
Stanford and Cal added drama to the ACC tournament in their first seasons as members of the league.
A three-point play from Blakes gave Stanford a 65-64 lead with 5:52 remaining before the scoring nearly ceased. The Cardinal didn’t score again until Sellers’ go-ahead 3-pointer with 2:05 left. Between those baskets for Stanford, Cal went 3 1/2 minutes without a point.
Two Stojakovic free throws knotted the game at 68-68 with 1:51 to go before the final sequence unfolded.
Cal was up 22-14 midway through the first half, but the Cardinal scored the final nine points of the half to hold a 38-32 advantage at the break.
Stanford moved to a 40-32 lead early in the second half, but Cal surged ahead 62-58.
It was another tight game for Cal, which lost in four overtimes Saturday at Notre Dame to end the regular season and then needed two overtimes to oust Virginia Tech in Tuesday’s first-round game.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
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