Stanford men’s basketball won its first game in spectacular fashion Saturday night, overcoming a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Santa Clara, converting the go-ahead basket with just two seconds remaining.

The Cardinal were helped by the durability of senior forward Maxime Raynaud, junior guard Oziyah Sellers and graduate guard Jaylen Blakes, as the trio each played more than 35 minutes and contributed the bulk of the scoring.

Stanford began the evening as a slight underdog as it faced the challenge of replicating its stellar early-season form at the Maples in its first road competition. Despite the short drive from campus, the Cardinal got off to a slow start, with turnovers on three straight offensive possessions to start the game, two of which were committed by the usually reliable Raynaud. As a result, the Broncos took a 6-0 lead, but – in response – junior forward Chisom Okpara maneuvered under the basket and scored while being fouled to put Stanford on the board.

The Cardinal stayed within striking distance of Santa Clara throughout the first half. However, with two minutes remaining in the period, the Broncos had increased their lead to 11 and were threatening to run away with the game. Instead, Blakes produced a great play, intercepting a pass on the sideline and crossing the field uncontested to bring the ball home. Even though Stanford trailed 37-27 at the break, Blakes’ play was essential to regain some momentum for the Broncos, who committed a foul and a turnover on successive possessions after Blakes’ dunk.

Stanford exploded in the second half with a 12-0 run to take the lead, aided by back-to-back triples, a marked improvement after going just 1-7 from behind the arc in the first half. Raynaud was instrumental in the turnaround, showing his versatility by grabbing an assist, a steal, a three-pointer, and offensive and defensive rebounds along the way.

Neither team had a lead of more than six points in the next 10 minutes – such was the intensity of the game. A foul by redshirt freshman forward Aidan Cammann in the six minutes and subsequent free throws scored by the Broncos increased their lead to eight. It looked like Stanford had spent too much energy getting back into the game and that the initial deficit would ultimately be insurmountable. However, a timeout at 3:25 proved decisive, as head coach Kyle Smith managed to galvanize his team to an improbable victory.

After the timeout, Sellers put the team on his back with two three-pointers either side of a dunk. All three baskets were assisted by Blakes, extending his streak to six consecutive Stanford baskets. The slam capped an excellent team defensive sequence, as redshirt sophomore guard Ryan Agarwal patiently blocked his man from shooting, Raynaud and Cammann helped knock the ball down, and Blakes gathered it up and fed Sellers downfield .

After Sellers tied the game, Stanford had a chance to seal the comeback after a missed Santa Clara free throw. However, uncharacteristic misses from Blakes from the line and Raynaud from the paint left Stanford with a precarious one-point lead to defend with just 20 seconds remaining. With eight seconds left, Sellers fouled out, but once again the Broncos were unable to capitalize, scoring just one of two goals to bring the game to the brink of overtime.

Blakes, however, had other ideas. He received the ball from the inside, dribbled deliberately toward the basket, cut to the right edge of the elbow, and sank a floating jumper. With two seconds left, the Broncos’ desperation throw fell to the Cardinal and the clock ran out on a memorable comeback.

Stanford’s 71-69 victory was its closest of the year thus far. It will look to build on that positive result on the road at the Acrisure Holiday Classic in Palm Desert on Tuesday, where it will face Grand Canyon University.