Pac-12 basketball: Stanford beats Cal State Northridge; Utah holds off Utah Valley

Oscar da Silva scored a career-high 32 points and grabbed nine rebounds to help Stanford beat Cal State Northridge 82-71 on Tuesday.

Da Silva was 9 of 11 from the field, and 14 of 14 at the stripe to top his previous best of 27 points against Oregon in February. It was Stanford’s first 30-point scorer since KZ Okpala did so against California on Feb. 3, 2019.

Da Silva, averaging 17.3 points per game, scored 17 of Stanford’s 36 first-half points.

Freshman Ziaire Williams scored all 12 of his points in the second half for Stanford (3-2). Noah Taitz also scored 12 points and Spencer Jones 10. Stanford is scheduled to open Pac-12 play against Arizona in Santa Cruz on Saturday.

Lance Coleman II made six 3-pointers and scored 20 points for CSUN (3-2), which is 0-6 against Stanford. TJ Starks had 19 points, five rebounds, four assists and five steals. The Matadors are scheduled to play California on Saturday.

Stanford was the second Pac-12 opponent CSUN has hosted, joining California in 1995. Stanford has temporarily relocated out of Santa Clara County until December 21 due to COVID-19 restrictions on sporting events and practices.

Utah 75, Utah Valley 67

Timmy Allen scored 19 points, Branden Carlson added 14 with three dunks and four blocks and Utah survived a furious challenge from Utah Valley for a 75-67 victory on Tuesday night.

Utah Valley senior Evan Cole doubled his previous career high (16), pouring in 31 points on 12-for-16 shooting and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead the Wolverines challenge. It was his first double-double since 2018.

Rylan Jones and Alfonso Plummer each added 12 points for the Utes (3-1) who made 28 of 59 field goals (47%). Carlson, Allen and Jones each had two of Utah’s seven steals as the Utes harried Utah Valley into 20 turnovers, turning the mistakes into 26 points.

Utah Valley’s 6-foot-11 Fardaws Aimaq was coming off a career-high 27 point, school-record 20-rebound double-double but Utah put the clamps on. Aimaq picked up two early fouls, played just eight minutes of the first half and was scoreless at the break.

Aimaq finished with seven points and nine rebounds. Trey Woodbury added 10 points and eight assists but turned the ball over six times.

Carlson blocked Aimaq with 10 seconds left to ice the win.

Cole scored seven of UVU’s first 10 points, and whittled a 15-point Utah lead to 6888-63 with eight straight points.

Though just 40 miles apart on Interstate 15, the schools had played just twice previously.