After being taken down to the final minute by Denver four days earlier, Stanford had all it could handle from Loyola Marymount for all but the final five minutes.

It took 31 points from Chasson Randle to enable the Cardinal to hold off the Lions 67-58 Wednesday night at Maples Pavilion.

Stefan Nastic added 15 points as Stanford (6-2) handed LMU (3-6) its fourth straight loss.

Evan Payne had 12 points to lead LMU, but that was 11 shy of his 22.6 average.

Under first-year coach Mike Dunlap, former head coach of the NBA Charlotte Bobcats, LMU is the United Nations of college basketball, uniting players from Nigeria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Zambia, Croatia and Australia.

The Lions, however, aren’t expected to do much in the West Coast Conference this season. The league’s preseason coaches’ poll pegged them for ninth out of 10 teams. But the Lions didn’t look the part at Maples.

A three-pointer by freshman Dorian Pickens gave Stanford its first lead since the opening minutes at 39-37. LMU regained the lead on a three by Matt Hayes, but Stanford pushed ahead 42-40 when Randle made three of four foul shots. His lone miss ended a streak of 35 made free throws to start the season.

The lead changed hands a few more times before a three-point play by Nastic and threes by Pickens and Randle put Stanford up 58-50 with under four minutes left.

LMU was coming off a 71-69 loss to Northern Arizona. But the Lions led by 12 with three minutes to go in the first half. They did it with an effective 2-3 zone, fine outside shooting and plenty of muscle on the boards.

Stanford was hurt when center Nastic picked up two offensive fouls in the first five minutes. The Cardinal also was cold for most of the first half.

Back-to-back threes by LMU reserve guard Matt Hayes made it 22-15. Payne, the WCC’s second leading scorer, stole the ball and drove for a layup. After Stanford’s strong defense forced LMU into a near shot-clock violation, the Cardinal neglected to box out, and Marin Mornar strolled in for an easy putback for a 26-15 lead.

The Lions’ margin reached 31-19 shortly thereafter. But Randle led an 8-0 Stanford comeback. He hit two free throws, then fed Grant Verhoeven for a layup and drove for two more baskets, cutting the lead to 31-27 at the break.

Briefly: It was Verhoeven’s first action of the season since he recovered from offseason hip surgery. … The Cardinal leave Friday for a six-day trip that includes games at BYU on Saturday and Texas on Tuesday. Stanford had better play better defense against BYU than it did last year, when the Cougars rolled 112-103 at Maples.