Stanford Beats Florida, 84-69, in First Game at Orlando Arena

A crowd of 14,687 packed the Orlando Arena for its basketball debut, but 20th-ranked Stanford spoiled the day by beating Florida, 84-69.

“This is our first time on national TV, and to come into a place like this and win is great,” Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery said. “It isn’t Florida’s home court, but it’s almost like it is.”

Todd Lichti led the Cardinal, scoring 27 points, 17 in the first half. Howard Wright added 17 for Stanford, including 10 during the final six minutes of the first half, when Stanford (16-5) jumped to a 44-33 lead.

“In the first half, I felt we really ran well,” Montgomery said. “Lichti shot the ball like he always seemed to--right through the hoop.”

Florida (11-10) cut the lead to 60-52 midway through the second half on Clifford Lett’s 3-pointer.

But Wright and Terry Taylor quickly stopped the rally, scoring all of Stanford’s 15 points in the next seven minutes as Stanford took its biggest lead, 75-58.

“In the second half, we started off by missing some easy shots, but Florida didn’t shoot well either, so that helped,” Montgomery said.

Florida, led by Livingston Chatman with 14 points and Dwayne Schintzius with 13, had foul trouble.

“We didn’t play well and they did,” Florida Coach Norm Sloan said. “We had some spurts, but every time we got something going, they would do something to take us out of it. It was their day and not ours.”