Stanford is once again champion of the NIT.

Chasson Randle hit the tying and go-ahead free throws late in overtime, and the Cardinal survived a furious Miami-Florida comeback to win an entertaining title showdown 66-64 at Madison Square Garden.


Miami was seconds away from its first-ever postseason title when Davon Reed was whistled for a foul with 3.4 seconds left in OT. Randle fooled Reed into leaving his feet with a pump fake, then leaned into the defender while putting up an 18-footer that fell well short. A late whistle sent Randle to the foul line, and the senior calmly sank both free throws.

After Reed threw the ensuing inbounds out-of-bounds, Anthony Brown made 1-of-2 free throws for a two-point Stanford lead. A lengthy pass that went sideline- to-sideline was ruled last touched by Stanford with 1.8 ticks left to give Miami the ball under its basket, and Sheldon McClellan's double-clutch try from the corner found the rim.

Randle scored 25 points in leading the Cardinal (24-13) to its third NIT title and second in four years.

McClellan scored all 17 of his points after halftime for the short-handed Hurricanes (25-13), who were without playmaker Angel Rodriguez and leading rebounder Tonye Jekiri.

Randle, Stanford's all-time leading scorer, made two 3-pointers during a 10-0 run that turned a tie game into a healthy lead at halftime.

The Hurricanes missed 10 of their last 11 shots and faced a 32-21 deficit at the break, something they've grown accustomed to the past two weeks. They trailed by at least six points in the second half in each of their previous three games and rallied to survive.

Miami kept chipping away and pulled even four times at the foul line over the final five minutes of regulation. After McClellan made two free throws with 48.6 seconds left, Randle drove right and got a go-ahead layup to fall.

McClellan again went to the foul line with time winding down and made two free throws for a 59-59 game, and OT was forced when Marcus Allen was short on a 3- point try at the buzzer.

McClellan's dunk midway through OT gave Miami its first lead since it was 17-16 with seven minutes remaining in the first half.

[SportsNetwork.com]