Bulldogs bite too big for Broncos

By CHAD ALVES

It was an up and down beginning to West Coast Conference play last week for the men's basketball team. Santa Clara defeated Portland Thursday in a strong start to the league season, but took a step backward Saturday with a loss at Gonzaga.

On one hand, Santa Clara won its conference opener, extended its winning streak to five games, beat a solid Portland squad on the road, and then jumped out to a 14-point lead against last year's Elite Eight qualifier, Gonzaga. However, everything after the first 15 minutes of the game against Gonzaga turned out to be a nightmare as the Bulldogs rolled 97-67.

By the time the Broncos' contest against the conference favorite was over, Santa Clara had lost their 14-point lead, lost the game by 30 points, lost their winning streak and lost for the fourth consecutive time against the Bulldogs. A defeat that makes it tough to remember the positive things that happened during the victory only two nights before.

In their victory over Portland on Thursday, the Broncos combined a good shooting night from three-point range with solid defense to produce the win. Although it was close for much of the game, senior Nathan Fast continued his hot shooting by scoring 21 points to propel Santa Clara to the 12-point victory.

SCU led by only five at the half, and Portland kept the game close through most of the second half. But a Bronco run with just over six minutes left helped Santa Clara close out the game and preserve their season high fifth win in a row.

Although the Broncos had an average shooting game from the field at 44 percent, they were on fire all night from behind the three-point arc. Santa Clara was 10-19 from downtown, including six three pointers from Fast, a career high. Fast also helped the Broncos with seven rebounds. Brian Jones chipped in 18 points of his own to lead, and the Broncos bench outscored Portland's 33-12, one of the big differences in the game. The other seemed to be Santa Clara's defense, as they held Portland to only 29 percent shooting.

Santa Clara's game against Gonzaga on Saturday night started off the same as their game against Portland had ended. With about ten minutes left in the first half, the Broncos held a 30-16 edge over the Bulldogs and had shot the ball at nearly 60 percent for the game. However, led by point guard Matt Santagelo, Gonzaga scored 11 straight points to erase most of the Broncos' double-digit lead before they could blink. The Bulldogs gained their first lead in the game just moments later, and they had a four-point cushion at halftime that they would never relinquish in the second half.

Santa Clara was hurt by their inability to rebound in this contest, as Gonzaga took advantage of the Broncos on the offensive glass to start the second half. After a couple of second chance points, Gonzaga had gained the momentum to turn the game into a blowout. The Bulldogs outrebounded Santa Clara 41-29 for the game.

Casey Calvary led the charge for Gonzaga in the contest by scoring a career high 21 points. Calvary had a double-double as he collected ten rebounds as well. Santagelo finished with 17 points, Axel Dench scored 13, and Richie Frahm added 12 for the balanced Bulldog attack. Darrell Teat led the Broncos with 14 points, as Jones had 12 and Fast scored 10. Despite their hot start, Santa Clara finished shooting only 38 percent from the field in the game, including a 7-24 performance from three point range. The Broncos made five of their first seven three point attempts, only to go 2-17 the rest of the game. And once Gonzaga got hot, the rout was on.

Santa Clara must now pick up the pieces from their ugly defeat to battle Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount at Toso Pavilion this weekend. It should be a key challenge for the Broncos, as Pepperdine is 12-5 on the year (2-0 in WCC) and along with Gonzaga is the frontrunner for the WCC Title.