PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Wofford men's basketball team opened up the 2014-15 season with a 74-59 loss at Stanford Friday night as part of the Northwestern Mutual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at Maples Pavilion.
 
Wofford (0-1) held its own through the first 16 minutes of the game. The Terriers opened 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and led 17-13 as sophomore Jaylen Allen connected on his first two 3-point attempts of the season.
 
Stanford (1-0) closed the gap. The Terriers led 24-23 with 4:17 before halftime when the Cardinal used a 13-3 run to go into the locker rooms up 36-27. Stanford shot 4-of-8 during the run and forced the Terriers into four turnovers after they had only committed three through the first 16 minutes.
 
Stanford's Stefan Nastic finished with a career-high 26 points. The 6-foot-11 center shot 11-of-14 and grabbed five boards to help the Cardinal outrebound Wofford 32-25. The big man was simply too overmatching inside and showed his mid-range game as well. After scoring the majority of his points in the paint, he pulled up for a couple 12-foot jumpers to score six straight Stanford points before exiting the game with four minutes to play.
 
Wofford allowed just one 25-point scorer all of last season – Davidson's De'Mon Brooks scored 28 last January 4.
 
"They're much better than we thought they were," said 13th-year head coach Mike Young. "Nastic is a skilled player who concerned us heading in and we wanted to see if he could beat us. He did and sometimes you have to just tip your cap.
 
"We can still take a lot of positives from this game. These guys stayed in there and continued to fight through the second half. We never stopped competing."
 
Allen led the Terriers with 12 points off the bench. The Johnson City, Tenn. native completed his sophomore opener 4-of-7 from the field and 2-of-5 from long range, coming up one point shy of his career-high. He was joined in double figures with 11 apiece from senior Karl Cochran and junior Spencer Collins.
 
Wofford shot 44.7 percent (21-47 FG) to Stanford's 52.8 percent (28-53 FG). On top of Nastic's 26 were Anthony Brown with 16, Travis Reid with 12 and Chasson Randle with 12. The Cardinal starters combined for all but five of the team's 74 points.
 
Nastic's size helped lead to a 34-24 Cardinal advantage in the paint. The Terriers also committed 16 turnovers, which they did just three times all of last season.
 
Sophomore Eric Garcia took Wofford's first shot of the 2014-15 season, draining a 3-pointer to give the Terriers a lead two minutes in. Nastic then scored four of five Cardinal points to open up a two-possession lead, but Wofford responded with four straight to tie it up 7-7 with a steal and fast break by Collins.
 
Allen's two 3-pointers fired up the bench and accounted for a 6-0 run that forced seventh-year Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins to burn a timeout. Wofford held the lead for nearly five minutes until a pair of Nastic free throws put the Cardinal back on top with 6:37 to go in the half.
 
Less than two minutes later, Wofford grabbed it right back. Allen was good for two and Collins scored off a Marcus Allen turnover to put the Terriers ahead 24-23.
 
Stanford's 13-3 ensued. Brown got it started with Stanford's first 3-pointer of the season and Wofford was held scoreless for nearly three minutes, taking just three shots the rest of the half. A Collins trey was the only break in the run, giving the home side a nine-point cushion at the break.
 
Nastic had 14 to lead all scorers at halftime and helped Stanford to an 18-11 rebounding edge. Allen led Wofford with eight on 3-of-4 shooting.
 
Nastic, Travis and Brown scored Stanford's first eight points of the second half and pushed the lead to 15 less than four minutes in. Garcia stopped the bleeding with his second three of the game, but a costly 8-0 Stanford run followed, energizing the Maples Pavilion crowd as the Cardinal led by 20 for the first time, ahead 54-34.
 
The Terriers clawed back and got Stanford in foul trouble. Wofford was in the bonus with 12 minutes to play and scored six straight, capped by a Lee Skinner basket, to cut the deficit to 54-40.
 
It got as close as a dozen. Cochran knocked down a pair at the line with 6:37 remaining and Stanford led 63-51.
 
Nastic put it out of reach. He scored six straight to extend the Cardinal lead back to 18 and before being granted an early exit.
 
The Wofford men's basketball team opens the home slate Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. The Terriers will compete in ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, hosting Iona for the 35th year of basketball inside Benjamin Johnson Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN2
 
Postgame Notes:
- It marked the first ever head-to-head meeting in any sport between Wofford and Stanford.
- Freshmen Derrick Brooks and Cam Jackson made their collegiate debuts. Brooks scored his first points on a jumper with 22.1 seconds to play.
- Wofford moved to 1-19 in season openers in the NCAA Division I era.
- The game was part of the Northwestern Mutual Coaches vs. Cancer Classic. Host schools Stanford, Duke, UNLV and Temple will compete in the championship rounds Nov. 21-22 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.