Broncos Grab Two Road Wins

By Nick Ostiller

Just when it seemed like the Santa Clara men's basketball conference season was turning into a disaster for the second straight year, Kevin Foster decided to turn it up.

The senior sharpshooter, who missed 12 West Coast Conference games last season due to a suspension, turned the number 12 into a positive by hitting that many three-pointers over the course of the Broncos' two conference victories last week against the University of San Francisco and Pepperdine University.

Foster scored 27 points against the Dons and 29 more against the Waves, earning him Player of the Week honors in the West Coast Conference for the second time this season. Broncos' Head Coach Kerry Keating explained how Foster was able to continue his strong season.

"He was taking good shots in rhythm and you got to feed the dog when it's hot," he told the Examiner online. "When he's going, you kind of got to let him go. It's a pretty good proposition when he's feeling it like that."

Foster's teammates were also singing his praises after the two wins, both of which came on the road.

"Offensively, he's been as good as he's ever been," said senior forward Marc Trasolini. "Just hitting tough shots, making great decisions and we all know how capable he is of that. He's been doing it all year and so it's really not a surprise to me and my teammates that he's Player of the Week again and that he's been playing so great."

Despite shooting a blistering 62.5 percent from the field last week, Foster emphasized the team's focus on the other end of the court.

"We were just making sure we had a contest on every shot and make sure we were closing out and being aggressive on defense," Foster said in an interview with the Examiner online.

Although Foster has been known to shoot the lights out, other facets of his game don't really stand out. Over the course of his career at Santa Clara, the Katy, Texas native has never averaged more than three rebounds and four assists per game. Yet, against San Francisco Foster pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, a stat-line that Broncos' fans are more accustomed to seeing from a forward like Trasolini.

"It's one thing you don't usually see out of Kevin," said Trasolini. "You know he's elevating his game when he has 10 rebounds so that was good to see him get a little double-double action."

While supporting his teammates, Trasolini has been no slouch himself during the team's last couple of games. The senior from Canada grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds at San Francisco and then got aggressive on offense against Pepperdine, pouring in 18 points behind Foster's 29.

After Santa Clara opened up WCC play with a victory at home against the same San Francisco Dons on Jan. 2, the Broncos proceeded to lose three straight in conference. Two of those losses came at the hands of then No. 10 Gonzaga University and a tough Brigham Young University team, but the 84-80 loss to Loyola Marymount University sandwiched in between those two setbacks was tough to swallow for players like Trasolini, especially after blowing a nine-point halftime lead.

"We really beat ourselves against LMU, a game we should've won and we had won," said Trasolini. "That stuff just really motivates us and we really wanted to get back on track...So it really started in practice the first part of the week and that really carried over into the games. It started on defense and it sort of translated into easy offense for us too."

Following the intensity in practice, Keating was in good spirits after his Broncos were able to get back to their winning ways against the a team they had already proven they could beat.

"We're really happy coming off a tough stretch, for us come out to respond on the road in a place that's a really tough place to play," Keating said. "I thought we did a great job of responding on the defensive end. It led to good looks on the offense."

Trasolini echoed the sentiments of his head coach. He said, "It felt good to really take it to our crosstown rivals. We always have a strong rivalry with them."

Santa Clara will head back out on the road for a matchup with the University of San Diego on Saturday night before returning to the Leavey Center to host Portland next Thursday.

Contact Nick Ostiller at nostiller@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.