BYU Sends Stanford Tumbling

Eric Nielsen scored a career-high 29 points and Brigham Young took advantage of Stanford’s poor second-half shooting to upset the No. 13 Cardinal, 81-76, in the Las Vegas Showdown on Saturday night.

Stanford made only one field goal in nearly eight minutes, beginning midway in the second half, to allow BYU to rally.

BYU (7-2) took its biggest lead, 74-65, on Nielsen’s last basket with 4:40 left and held on down the stretch. Matt Montague made six free throws in the last 34 seconds to help seal the victory.

Casey Jacobsen, a junior from Glendora, led Stanford (6-2) with a career-high 28 points, but didn’t make a basket after a three-point basket tied it at 61-61 with 10:37 left.

Stanford went ahead 63-61, but BYU went on an 11-0 run to take the lead for the final time.

Nielsen, who averaged only 9.1 points coming into the game, scored 17 in the first half and opened the second half with a three-pointer.

Stanford led 41-40 at halftime, and held its biggest lead of the second half after a basket by Julius Barnes, a junior from Rowland Heights, with 15:30 left.

It was the fifth victory in a row for BYU, which also got 15 points from Mark Bigelow and 10 from Daniel Bobik.

Justin Davis had 19 for Stanford, while Curtis Borchardt had 11.

Stanford doesn’t play again until next Saturday when the Cardinal plays host to No. 17 Michigan State.