LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Facing a tough trip home was enough for Taquan Dean to come up with one of the best games of his career.
The junior guard scored 30 points Wednesday to lead No. 12 Louisville to an 82-67 victory over Stanford in the fifth-place game of the Maui Invitational.
It was the Cardinals' first win this season over a Division I team and it made sure the four-game junket to the 50th state turned out successfully.
"It's a long ride home from Hawaii and a loss would have made it really tough, so it was a good trip," Dean said after finishing one point shy of his career high, set last season against VMI.
He had 10 of Louisville's 13 points when the Cardinals (3-1) broke the game open midway through the second half.
Louisville's earlier wins were over Division II teams -- BYU-Hawaii last week and Chaminade in the consolation bracket of the Maui Invitational. The Cardinals lost 76-71 to Iowa in the opening round of the eight-team tournament sponsored by EA Sports.
"This was a great game for us," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "Obviously every team that comes out here wants to enjoy Hawaii and win a championship. But you have to get out of here 2-1 to make it a worthwhile trip or it's potentially a preseason disaster if your team loses confidence."
Rob Little had a career-high 19 points for Stanford (2-2), which lost to Tennessee in the opening round and beat Brigham Young in the consolation round.
Dean was 4-for-9 from 3-point range, including two in a run that gave the Cardinals a 68-56 lead with 6:13 left. He later came up with two big rebounds when teammates missed the front end of one-and-ones in the final minute. He went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, all in the final 1:16.
Dean played 36 minutes and had some problems with cramping late in the game, Louisville's fourth in five days.
"Taquan was cramping up but last year he played with two sports hernias for a month-and-a-half and he did it then," Pitino said. "He's just an incredibly tough young man, a perfectionist, and he had a big-time game tonight and so did the team."
Francisco Garcia had 16 points and Ellis Myles added eight points and 13 rebounds for Louisville, which shot 49.1 percent for the game, including 11-for-20 from 3-point range. The Cardinals made six 3s in an 8-minute stretch of the second half when they pulled away in the first meeting between the schools.
"We have depth problems but we knew if we didn't try to fatigue them and get our one or two runs, I thought it would be a two- or four-point game and we couldn't do that," Pitino said.
Little, a senior forward, was 6-for-6 from the field in the first half as Louisville took a 36-34 lead. He finished 9-for-11 and had six rebounds. His career high was 18 points against Florida as a sophomore.
"We handled their pressure well in the first half, but they hit open 3s repeatedly and we can't let that affect our defense," Little said.
Matt Haryasz had 18 points and eight rebounds for Stanford, which shot 51 percent in the first half but couldn't stay with Louisville, falling to 38.2 in the second half (13-for-34). The Cardinal were 3-for-10 from 3-point range for the game.
"Rob played his best game and Matt's starting to get healthy," first-year Stanford coach Trent Johnson said. "They sort of wore us down. We tried to slow the game down. Give credit to Louisville for us not making 3s."
Pitino said that was the difference.
"The 3-pointer is a tremendous weapon in this game, but it's only a weapon when you stop it," he said. "If you make 11 and they make 10 it's not a weapon at all. Tonight we made 11 and they made three. Do the math. That was quite a weapon and the difference-maker in the game."
