Stanford stuns No. 21 Utah in Pac-12 opener

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Stanford’s football team did its basketball compatriots a huge favor Friday by racking up 35 points in the first half of the Rose Bowl. With the game essentially over in the first quarter, the basketball team could shut down the locker room TVs and focus on its Pac-12 opener against No. 21 Utah.

In a game at Maples Pavilion that started minutes after the Rose Bowl ended, Stanford used that focus and some dominating individual performances to overcome a 12-point second-half deficit and stun the Utes 70-68 in overtime.

The Cardinal (8-4, 1-0) watched the first half of the Rose Bowl in their rooms at a team hotel.

“Once they were up 35-0, we kind of knew they had it in the books,” senior forward Rosco Allen said.

When the team convened in the locker room as the Rose Bowl moved into the second half, “Nobody was really peeking. We had to focus on our game. We knew it could be a great day for Stanford football and basketball.”

The basketball win was a bigger shocker, coming against perhaps the second-best team in the Pac-12, especially after a dreadful first half in which the Cardinal shot 7-for-29 and missed 19 of their final 23 to go into the locker room down 30-21.

The deficit grew to 42-30 with just more than 15 minutes left, but the Cardinal solved Utah’s matchup zone and got friskier on defense, resulting in a 17-4 run that gave Stanford a one-point lead.

Stanford guard Marcus Allen scored four points in the final 34 seconds of regulation and added five more points in overtime. Stanford guard Marcus Allen scored four points in the final 34 seconds of regulation and added five more points in overtime. Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Stanford stuns No. 21 Utah in Pac-12 opener 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Freshman Marcus Sheffield and sophomore Michael Humphrey combined for 14 of the 17 points. Allen hit the other shot, a three-pointer, but his best was yet to come.

Stanford overcame a four-point deficit with 34 seconds left in regulation on a dunk and a jumper by Allen that tied the game 63-63.

Allen dominated the overtime, too, scoring five of Stanford’s seven points to lead an upset that head coach Johnny Dawkins was thrilled to have for his young team’s conference opener.

“It shows what you’re capable of doing, when you beat one of the best teams in the nation,” Dawkins said. “As coaches, we can always say we believe in having success and winning games like that, but until you do, the kids are still saying, ‘I hear ya, coach.’

“When you win one, you have a reference point of being able to do that.”

Stanford held the conference’s top-scoring team to 16 points below its average but also must acknowledge some luck. Utah (11-3, 0-1) also was the top free-throw-shooting team but went 11-for-24 from the line. In fact, Brandon Taylor missed two foul shots with 1.8 seconds left in regulation. One probably would have won it for Utah.

The Cardinal also struggled from the line (14-for-25). Dawkins half-joked that the poor free-throw shooting on both sides was a “hangover from the holidays.”

Allen and Sheffield each scored a game-high 17 points, all of Sheffield’s off the bench in the second half. Marcus Allen added 14 and Humphrey 13 for the Cardinal before fouling out.

Seven-foot center Jakob Poeltl led the Utes with 16 points. He also fouled out, weakening his team’s interior defense in overtime.

Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hankschulman