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Stanford and Northern Iowa both experienced difficult second halves on Thursday.
Because of those struggles, the Cardinal and Panthers will compete for seventh and eighth place on Friday night in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas.
Stanford (3-3) is trying to get a win in the tournament after dropping close games to No. 20 Arkansas and Michigan.
Against the Razorbacks, the Cardinal took a 77-74 double-overtime defeat after blowing a four-point lead in the final 20 seconds. Against Michigan, Stanford led by 14 early, held a seven-point edge early in the second half and nearly erased a 13-point deficit before taking an 83-78 setback.
Jared Bynum scored 22 points against Michigan after being held to 13 against Arkansas, but Spencer Jones was held to six on Thursday after finishing with 27 a day earlier. Jones, who was held out of the Eastern Washington game on Nov. 17 due to an injury, was limited to 13 minutes against Michigan.
Michael Jones contributed 16 vs. the Wolverines, and leading scorer Maxime Raynaud finished with 14 for the Cardinal, who shot 50 percent from the floor after shooting 40 percent against Arkansas.
Stanford also struggled against another guard on Thursday as Michigan’s Dug McDaniel scored 20 against its defense a day after Tramon Mark put up 25.
Northern Iowa (1-4) was outscored by a combined 39 points in the second half against No. 14 North Carolina and Texas Tech in the Bahamas.
After the Tar Heels rode a 56-28 second-half advantage to a 91-69 victory on Wednesday, the Panthers blew a 15-point lead in the final 11 1/2 minutes and took a 72-70 loss to the Red Raiders when Pop Isaacs banked in the game-winner right before the buzzer.
The Panthers were up 58-43 before getting outscored 29-12 the rest of the way. Their only basket in the final 5:49 was a tying 3-pointer by Tytan Anderson with 27 seconds left.
Nate Heise led Northern Iowa with 18 points on Thursday after posting 14 against North Carolina, when the Panthers held a six-point lead at halftime before shooting 32.1 percent in the second half.
The Friday game will be the second meeting between the schools. Stanford earned a 16-point win over Northern Iowa in a consolation semifinal at this event in 2012.
–Field Level Media
