Web update: Men's basketball sails past Argonauts

By Matthew Cucuzza

For the first time all season Santa Clara Broncos center John Bryant failed to lead his team in scoring and rebounding Saturday night at the Leavey Center.

But Bryant's powerful dunk over the head of Notre Dame de Namur guard Andre Hayes late in the second half capping a night where the Broncos only needed the big center's services to grow a large lead they held throughout the game.

Bryant played sparingly in the second half as the Broncos cruised past the Notre Dame de Namur University Argonauts 67-47 and extended their winning streak to four games.

With the win, Santa Clara (5-4) improved to a game above .500 for the first time since being 1-0 to start the season. The Broncos dropped four consecutive games following their season opener before this winning streak.

Freshman guard Kevin Foster led the team, scoring 15 of his 17 points from beyond the three-point line.

"John draws so much attention he opens up a lot of space for everybody else," said Foster.

Foster drained a three-pointer just 1:28 into the game to put the Broncos permanently ahead after the score was tied at 2-2. The Argonauts never lead in the game.

"It's a team game," said Bryant. "People were hitting shots from outside and Kevin's a great shooter, so we just kept going to him."

Foster's 14 points helped fuel a Bronco 15-5 run over a 15-minute span late in the first half to put the game out of reach for NDNU.

Santa Clara were shooting 52 percent from the field and led 32-14 lead at halftime, marking the second consecutive game the Broncos held a team to a season-low 14 points in a half.

The Broncos point guard Troy Alexander was kept out of the lineup after spraining his shoulder when he was thrown to the court fighting for a loose rebound during the Broncos' 51-32 win over Sacramento State on Dec. 6. Alexander is listed as day-to-day.

Santa Clara further shuffled their lineup as Marc Trasolini was a late scratch after sustaining a back injury in practice.

Broncos Head Coach Kerry Keating said he chose to not start forward Ben Dowdell due to a minor academic violation. Dowdell led the Broncos with seven rebounds and scored seven points in 21 minutes.

Junior college transfer Perry Petty started his first-ever Division I game and James Rahon made his second career start.

Keating said his team's first half effort was impressive but the second-year head coach condemned the Broncos for easing off the gas near the end of the game.

"We kind of let it get away from us there at the end," said Keating. "Stranger things have happened, we've got to make sure we close it out and stay solid."

NDNU center Deon Sharp led the Argonauts with 13 points and collected four rebounds.

Santa Clara will play its next two games on the road, Wednesday, Dec. 17 at UNLV and Saturday, Dec. 20 at Pacific. The Broncos return home to face Stanford Dec. 23 live on ESPNU.

BRONCOS NOTEBOOK:Junior Decensae White is eligible to play his first game as a Bronco, since transferring in from Texas Tech last year, Dec. 17 as Santa Clara takes on UNLV.

Sophomore Ben Dowdell, who started a Santa Clara record 29 of 30 games his freshman year, did not start tonight's game due to what Head Coach Kerry Keating said was a "minor academic issue." It was the first time the forward did not start a game since Feb. 25, 2008 against the San Francisco Dons where he also came off the bench. Keating said Dowdell will be back as a starter in Santa Clara's next game vs. UNLV.

Center John Bryant was named co-West Coast Conference Player of the Week, sharing the weekly honor with Saint Mary's Patty Mills, after averaging more than 17 ppg, 18 rpg and 4.5 bpg in the Broncos' two wins last week. It was the first career Player of the Week honors that Bryant has received. He was named WCC Player of the Month for November.

The Broncos committed only 10 turnovers for the second consecutive game.

Contact Matthew Cucuzza at (408) 551-1918 or at mcucuzza@scu.edu.