NEW YORK - With his Stanford teammates struggling and the lead slipping away, Anthony Brown shot the ball with no hesitation.

Brown scored 13 of his season-high 18 points in the second half to lead the Cardinal to a 74-64 victory over Massachusetts in an NIT men's basketball semifinal Tuesday night.

"He had great looks and he [had] confidence and he made them," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "He really stepped up tonight and did it for us."

Chaz Williams led fifth-seeded UMass (25-12) with 19 points.

Stanford (25-11) will meet the Gophers, who edged Washington 68-67 in overtime Tuesday night, in the NIT championship game Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

Brown went 7-for-12 from the field, while the rest of the team was a combined 17-for-53.

The Minutemen took their first lead since early in the game with just over eight minutes left, but Brown hit a three-pointer to push the Cardinal back on top.

"There was a change in momentum, and I just wanted to do whatever I could to help the team out," the sophomore said.

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