Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Stanford
Northwestern Falls to No. 20 Stanford
11/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 15, 2007
Box Score | Quotes
Coach Carmody talk about the play of Michael Thompson.
Thompson talk about his role on this year's team.
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern rallied back from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the score, but No. 20 Stanford made just enough plays down the stretch to hand the Wildcats a 71-60 defeat in their home opener at Welsh-Ryan Arena Thursday evening.
Freshman point guard Michael Thompson scored all of his team-high 16 points in the second half for the Wildcats (0-1).
"In the second half he just came alive. We have to get the ball in his hands more and let him make plays," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said after his team lost its season opener.
Stanford (4-0) showed some balance with Anthony Goods scoring 19 and Landry Fields adding 16 with four 3-pointers. The Cardinal is 4-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 season when it won its first 26.
Stanford forward Lawrence Hill suffered a mild sprain of his left ankle as the teams battled for a rebound with 18:09 left and did not return. Even without the 6-8 Hill for most of the second half, the Cardinal controlled the boards 45-24.
Hill was hurt during the Cardinal's 11-4 spurt after intermission that featured a quick 3-pointer from Goods and two baskets by Lopez that helped expand the lead to 42-29.
But Thompson had six points to spark a 15-2 run and the Wildcats roared back to tie it on Jason Okrzesik's 3-pointer with 9:50 to go.
Goods' nice reverse layup after another block by Lopez and then his three-point play helped Stanford build the lead back to 53-44.
Northwestern chopped the deficit back to three, but Fields sank another 3-pointer and the Cardinal ran out the victory at the line.
NU returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday when it takes on intra-city rival DePaul at Allstate Arena.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
