DENVER—Embracing a job change, Brian Stafford has quickly settled in to his new role as primarily a shooting guard.
Stafford scored a career-high 32 points, including four free throws with under a minute to play, and Denver held off Portland State 69-61 on Friday night in the season opener for both teams.
A combination ball-handler, shooter and facilitator for his teammates in the past, Stafford will be leaned on more as a scorer this season with freshman Brett Olson assuming the main responsibility for running the offense. So far, so good.
“It’s not hard for him to bang a shot,” Denver coach Joe Scott said of Stafford. “That’s what he’s good at. We’re sort of putting him in a role where that’s what I want from him, and he doesn’t have to do some other things that maybe he’s done in the past.”
Stafford said he has a clear understanding of what Scott expects from him.
“He’s given me an opportunity to focus on scoring by giving Brett Olson a lot of the control of the offense,” Stafford said. “It’s definitely a new role and it’s really simplified the game for us and we know what we’re expected to do.
The shift in responsibility, at first asking, seems to suit him—and the team—well.
“My shot felt really good and I was playing with a lot of confidence,” Stafford said. “It was a lot of fun. It was great to have a really good crowd out there tonight and there was a lot of energy in the building. We see some things we need to improve in, but I like the way we competed in the second half.”
Chris Udofia added 15 points and four blocked shots for Denver. Nate Lozeau had 19 points to lead Portland State. Chehales Tapscott added 18 points and 12 rebounds and Charles Odum had 13 points.
“I was happy with the way we played,” Portland State coach Tyler Geving said. “We executed what we wanted to do. We wanted to get the ball inside and we did that. Obviously, you’d like to win but you get down 6-8 points against those guys and it feels like 30 because of the way that they play.”
Up by three at the half, Denver stretched its lead to 49-37 with an 11-2 burst capped by Chase Hallam’s running bank shot with 9:54 remaining.
Portland State fought back to within 53-46 after Lozeau hit a layup and Odum made a couple of free throws with 5:47 remaining but Denver regained a double digit lead when Stafford hit a jumper from the top of the key to make it 59-48 with 3:11 remaining.
That was just enough to hold off a late run by Portland State, which got to within six in the final moments but could get no closer as Denver made all six of its free throws in the final minute.
Stafford hit his sixth 3-pointer with 37.3 seconds left in the opening period, giving Denver a 34-31 lead at halftime. It was the most 3-pointers in the first half by a Denver player since DaShawn Walker also had six on Nov. 19, 2006, against Colorado State.
Lozeau helped keep Portland State close by scoring 14 of his points in the first half.
The game marked the return of Denver redshirt senior Rob Lewis, a starter for most of his career who missed all of last season with a stress fracture in his lower back. Lewis banged his head on the floor diving for a loose ball late in the first half but returned in the second half and finished the game. He had four points in his return.
