By Joseph Beyda on December 30, 2012

Stanford men’s basketball ended its nonconference season with a second consecutive close win on Saturday night, as the Cardinal (9-4, 0-0 Pac-12) survived Lafayette (5-10, 0-0 Patriot League) 65-59 at Maples Pavilion.

The Leopards shot 11-of-19 from three-point range and narrowed Stanford’s lead to just two points in the final 30 seconds, but Stanford freshman Rosco Allen scored a career-high 11 points — nine of them in the closing minutes — to seal the victory.

“It was a good emphasis win for us going into the Pac-12 season,” the forward said. “We have to get a little bit of a roll going and coming back from Christmas break, we really needed this one.”

Sophomore guard Chasson Randle led all Stanford scorers with 16 points, and junior forwards Dwight Powell and Josh Huestis each reached double figures in rebounds. After getting off to a slow shooting start this season, the Cardinal has now shot above 40 percent from the floor in three straight games.

“I was really never worried about our ability to shoot the ball,” said head coach Johnny Dawkins. “That’s just something that will come. As long as we continue to defend, we’ll always put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win and that’s what we’ve done this preseason.”

Stanford jumped out to a 20-11 lead and took an eight-point advantage into halftime despite a 5-minute, 27-second scoring drought. The Leopards went ahead for the only time with nine minutes remaining in the second half, but strong bench play by junior guard Aaron Bright (eight points) pushed the Cardinal back in front.

Stanford outrebounded Lafayette 46-26 overall and 14-2 on the offensive glass.