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11/09 23:27 CST Townsend takes his scoring up a notch finishing with 31 to lead Stanford past Rice 91-73 Townsend takes his scoring up a notch finishing with 31 to lead Stanford past Rice 91-73 STANFORD, Calif. (AP) --- Nick Townsend scored 19 of his 31 points before halftime and Stanford led most of the game in a 91-73 win over Rice on Monday night. Townsend entered the game leading Stanford in scoring at 18.5 points in its first two games. Townsend made all 11 of his foul shots. Reserves Christian Bliss and Austin Maurer each scored 12 points and Julius Price 10. Stanford made 32 of 62 shot attempts despite making just 7 of 19 from beyond the 3-point line. The Cardinal made 20 of 21 foul shots. Stanford (3-0) led 45-29 at halftime shooting 17 of 33. Evan Stinson's layup with 8:46 to go pushed Stanford's lead to 76-46. Jaxson Thompson led Rice (1-2) with 14 points and reserve Dallas Hobbs scored 12. Rice shot 25 of 61 and struggled from beyond the 3-point line making just 6 of 23 attempts.

Up next Rice: Heads to Stephen F. Austin on Friday. Stanford: Travels to Nevada to play UNLV on Thursday. ___ Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full men's basketball coverage here