Bronco Squads Elevate Their Play as Conference Play Continues
Santa Clara Men’s and Women’s basketball are starting to peak at the right time
Men’s Basketball
Coming off a close loss at St. Mary’s, the Broncos were faced with a reality check. They had a grueling stretch of games upcoming against San Diego, BYU and San Francisco within the next week: all teams in the top-half of the West Coast Conference (WCC) standings. To continue their successful season, Santa Clara had to rise to the occasion.
The first daunting opponent Santa Clara faced last week was University of San Diego (USD). The USD Toreros had a 4-2 conference record entering the teams’ matchup in Leavey Center after taking care of lower-skilled opponents in the WCC. USD was led by Joey Calcaterra, who shot 5-for-12 from the field and 3-for-6 from behind the arc., along with Terrell Brown-Soares, who proved difficult to contain in the paint with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Broncos and Toreros needed overtime to settle the contest after being tied at 70-70 after 40 minutes. The matchup was a resurgent game for Santa Clara star Josip Vrankic, who had 22 points and seven rebounds and dominated in overtime. Scoring six of Santa Clara’s eight points during the overtime period, Vrankic helped his team edge USD for a 78-74 victory.
The Broncos’ next game was against the BYU Cougars, a notoriously successful program within the WCC. The Cougars entered the game in second place in the conference, led by Te'Jon Lucas and All-WCC First Team point guard Alex Barcello. The first half proved to be a back-and-forth affair, with Barcello establishing himself from long range early and Jalen Williams taking the reins for the Broncos.
Santa Clara struggled to contain Barcello, who shot 4-for-8 from the 3-point range. On the other side of the ball, Santa Clara got a kickstart from Carlos Stewart off the bench, who made his presence felt on both ends of the court. However, BYU held a 39-37 lead into the break thanks to complementary play from Gideon George and Seneca Knight.
Parker Braun made his presence known in the second half for the Broncos, notching his first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. A tense game throughout, the Cougars held a 74-70 lead with 45 seconds to go.
On the edge of my first-row seat, I wondered how the final minute would play out: Santa Clara needed a miracle to pull this off.
On the ensuing inbound, BYU’s Te'jon Lucas threw a full court pass intended for Gideon George but overshot, resulting in a turnover: Broncos’ ball.
Santa Clara capitalized on the extra possession with a corner three off an inbound pass from PJ Pipes. The Bronco defense needed to kick into high gear and did so, forcing Barcello into an off-balance mid range jumpshot. However, Fousseyni Traore got the offensive rebound and put in the layup for a 76-73 BYU lead with 19 seconds left.Santa Clara’s Jalen Williams worked to score a layup and cut the deficit to 76-75 with only 9 seconds left. At this point, all the chaos had yet to unfold.
On the ensuing inbound, Santa Clara’s Keshawn Justice fouled BYU’s Spencer Johnson to send him to the free throw line. Johnson would be called for a free throw violation on the front-end of his 1-and-1 to keep it a one-point game. Williams rebounded the ball and raced up the floor to hit a floater with .7 seconds left on the clock, putting the Broncos up for good. Santa Clara upset BYU 77-76, and the Broncos rushed the court in the ensuing calamity.
After a monumental win, Santa Clara’s next game was against the University of San Francisco (USF), a long and storied rivalry. The matchup was the 229th between these two teams, and a rehash of the first-ever WCC basketball game to be played. The atmosphere at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco was breathtaking, with a decent contingent of Santa Clara fans making the short trip north to combat a full student section for the San Francisco Dons. From my seat just behind the bench, I sensed that a game for the ages loomed.
Santa Clara raced out to an early 20-8 lead that had the Dons reeling early, thanks to efficient play from Keshawn Justice and Jalen Williams. Eventually, San Francisco found their rhythm, led by All-WCC point guard Jamaree Bouyea. Bouyea got San Francisco back into the game, along with Yauhen Massalski and Julian Rishwain, who gave the Broncos fits throughout the game.
Santa Clara trailed 31-26 before a 10-0 run courtesy of Jalen Williams and Jaden Bediako. Then, just before halftime, USF put on a full-court press against SCU with 28 seconds left and the shot clock turned off. Santa Clara fell for the bait of a quick shot, but missed and gave USF one final possession before halftime. Bouyea hit a step back three-pointer and put the Dons up 43-42 heading into the break.
The second half proved to be even more chaotic, with an early timeout by Coach Sendek settling the Broncos down after a poor start. This would set off a back-and-forth between the Dons and Broncos echoing that of a boxing match, and neither team getting away from the other by more than five points. At one point, Santa Clara and San Francisco made 15 consecutive shots from the field. The environment in War Memorial picked up, with fans on both sides making their presence known.
With five minutes left in the game, the Broncos led 75-70. USF made it a point to attack Parker Braun in the paint down the stretch, and the Don’s Massalski continued to tear up the Broncos -- before eventually fouling out with 17 points and 16 rebounds. Josip Vrankic got a few layups to fall late in the game, but his struggles with a few makeable shots, even by his standard, would come back to haunt Santa Clara down the stretch.
San Francisco held a 82-77 lead with two minutes to go. Courtesy of Keshawn Justice, the Broncos got a much-needed stop on defense, allowing PJ Pipes to race down the floor and feed Vrankic for a layup. The score was 82-81 with 28 seconds left, leaving the fate of the game in the hands of USF’s free throw shooters.
Making six of six free throws down the stretch, the Dons put the game on ice.. The score was 88-85 in favor of the Dons with eight seconds left, and Santa Clara needed some magic. After a missed three pointer from Jalen Williams and a heave at the end from Keshawn Justice, the Broncos had fallen just short. The well-played, but nonetheless disappointing loss motivated the Broncos into a must-win game against the Pacific Tigers on Jan. 31.
The Tigers were full of momentum coming into the game against Santa Clara after a huge upset over BYU, and Pacific carried that momentum during a fiery first half at the Leavey Center. Pacific was without their 2nd leading scorer Luke Avdalovic for the game, and their best player Alphonso Anderson picked up two quick fouls in four minutes. Picking up the slack for the Tigers was Jeremiah Bailey, enroute to 14 first half points and a 34-29 halftime lead. Josip Vrankic and Giordan Williams led the way for Santa Clara as they fought through the first half.
The second half, however, brought new life to the Bronco team. After Pacific got out to a 38-32 lead, Santa Clara turned on the afterburners, going on a gargantuan 28-0 run to make the score 60-38. Santa Clara’s defense and rebounding were highly successful, and several good plays from Vrankic and Carlos Stewart propelled the run for Santa Clara. The Broncos finished with an impressive 81-59 victory over Pacific: finishing touch on a hot streak amidst conference play. Santa Clara’s next game will be against Loyola Marymount on Thursday, Feb. 3 at the Leavey Center.
In the ensuing contest against Loyola Marymount University (LMU), both teams had a tough time scoring in the early going. After a defensive slog for the first few minutes of the game, Carlos Stewart came off the bench and ignited new life into the Broncos. Led by Stewart and Keshawn Justice, Santa Clara was able to fend off LMU for the rest of the first half despite not putting everything together enroute to a 35-31 lead at halftime.
For the Lions, Eli Scott and Keli Leaupepe lead the charge, with Leaupepe putting up ten first half points. At the beginning of the second half. Leaupepe would continue to keep the Lions in it, hitting back to back fadeaways to shrink the deficit to 37-36 after the first few minutes of the second half. Santa Clara’s offense sputtered in the first half at time due to LMU’s full court press defense along with their traps on screens, which gave everyone on the Broncos fits. In the second half, they were able to figure it out with Jalen Williams, Carlos Stewart, and Parker Braun all making plays throughout the second half.
Additionally, Santa Clara’s rebounding improved throughout the half, limiting LMU to one shot per possession most of the way. This frustrated LMU and their coaches as the half progressed, where Lions head coach Stan Johnson picked up a technical foul after an animated rant towards and official. Couple that with LMU using all of their timeouts in a flurry of a second half and it all fell apart for the Lions. Santa Clara would take advantage of their chaos, stretching their lead to 20 points and coming out with a 79-60 victory. Josip Vrankic moved into the top 10 on Santa Clara’s all time scoring list with his 1,646th point during the contest, and will certainly be looking for more as his college career closes. Santa Clara will need to ride the momentum as they face a huge upcoming stretch of games at San Diego along with a homestand against St.Mary’s and San Francisco.
Women’s Basketball
Santa Clara women’s basketball had a recent stretch of games entailing road contests at Portland and BYU before returning to the Leavey Center for a home series against Pacific. Santa Clara senior Lindsey VanAllen continued to tear up the stat sheets, putting up a whopping 32 points against Portland, followed by Merle Wiehl with 15. The two women led the Broncos to an overtime contest in Portland, but Santa Clara fell just short with a 76-71 defeat.
Up next for Santa Clara was the potent BYU Cougars: a team always in the top-half of the conference and making NCAA tournament runs six out of the last ten seasons. What came in as an opportunity for an upset quickly derailed as BYU smothered the Broncos from the outset, pulling out a 45-19 halftime lead. Santa Clara was outmatched across the board resulting in a 76-44 thumping at the hands of BYU.
After that less-than-satisfying matchup, the Broncos needed to rebound at home against Pacific–and they did just that. Due to Santa Clara being down three starters and their head coach due to a mix of injury and health and safety protocols, Pacific edged out to an early lead. Refusing to let the obstacles kill their stride, the Broncos took the lead back late in the 1st quarter and never looked back. VanAllen and Wiehl led the charge for the Broncos, fending off multiple runs by the Tigers enroute to a Broncos’ 75-64 victory at Leavey Center. VanAllen put up another whopping 32 points and passed alum Emily Wolph for 22nd on SCU’s all time scoring list, with Wiehl putting up 10 and Bryce Nixon putting up 7 for the shorthanded Broncos.
Their return to Stockton on Jan. 31 proved less fruitful; having a shorthanded team is hard enough at home, but on the road it's a whole different story. The Broncos got off on the wrong foot from the start, dealing with cold shooting and struggled to overcome misses from the inside and along the perimeter. However, they stayed the course and clawed their way back with key defensive stops, entering the fourth quarter only down four. Santa Clara even took the lead for a brief minute at 58-57 in the fourth quarter but the Tigers fought back with key offensive moves to move into the lead and the Broncos fell to lowly Pacific 74-69. Merle Wiehl had 17 points, Lindsey VanAllen had 15 points and Bryce Nixon had 13 points in what was otherwise a brutal shooting night for Santa Clara. Their next game is against St. Mary’s on Feb. 3, where the Broncos will certainly be looking for some reinforcements.
Unfortunately, Santa Clara was still shorthanded as they took on the St.Mary’s Gaels in Moraga Thursday night. Santa Clara would fall behind early against the Gaels and have to claw their way back into the game just like they did at Pacific. However this time the Broncos were able to stretch their offense to the perimeter and make 11 three pointers on the night at a 50% clip. Santa Clara also made good use of their free throw attempts, draining 16 of their 17 attempts at the line. But in the end, the lack of depth caught up with the shorthanded Broncos. St.Mary’s won the bench point total, 21-4, and with that a 78-73 victory. Lindsey VanAllen’s 28 points were not enough to overcome the mix of injuries and health and safety protocols, but the Broncos who are currently seeing unforseen playing time are making the most of their time on the court with the effort put forth.