Crunch Time
By BRIAN ELSNER
The University of San Francisco literally stole a victory from the men's basketball team 74-71 at Toso Pavilion last Friday. The loss drops the Broncos to fourth place in the West Coast Conference at 7-5 and a 16-11 overall record.
Trailing 72-71 with 10 seconds left, Santa Clara held the ball at mid-court with a chance to win the game. After two time-outs due to difficulty inbounding the ball, senior Darrell Teat passed the ball to junior Brian Jones in the backcourt. Jones dribbled the ball to the three-point arc when the ball bounced off of his leg to USF's LyRyan Russell, who took it the distance for a lay-up at the buzzer.
Russell had his redemption as he missed two free throws on the previous possession that would have put the Dons up by three. The final play topped a tough stretch for the Broncos as they scored only one point in the final six minutes and missed 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
"We didn't play very well in the last six minutes," Head Coach Dick Davey said. "It's kind of hard to win when you can't hit a shot or any free throws."
Despite Santa Clara's inefficiency at the end of the game, the Broncos used hot shooting from sophomore Justin Holbrook and senior Nathan Fast to mount a 70-62 lead in the second half. The Dons went on a 12-1 run to finish the game and pick up the victory.
Fast got off to a great start in the first half by hitting all six of his shots from the field, including four from beyond the arc for 16 points at halftime. Yet Fast could only muster four points in the second half as the Dons clamped down on the Broncos' leading scorer.
Holbrook then picked up the scoring for Santa Clara, including an impressive and improbable four-point play. Holbrook finished with 15 points off the bench on 5-of-6 from the field.
"Justin [Holbrook] has made major strides in the past month both offensively and defensively," Davey said. "We really need the bench to perform for us to be successful."
With the loss, the Broncos may be headed for a rematch with San Francisco in the West Coast Conference tournament. Depending on San Diego and San Francisco's play this weekend, Santa Clara could finish anywhere from third to fifth place in the conference. The Broncos must first take care of the second place Gonzaga Bulldogs on Friday at Toso Pavilion. Guard Matt Santangelo has torched Santa Clara in their last two meetings, including a 34-point performance in the 1999 WCC Championship game.
"I have to make sure Santangelo doesn't hurt us," Jones said. "I can't let him penetrate or get any open looks at the basket. I think it's going to be different this time."
The final regular season game against Portland on Saturday at Toso is also slated for a 7:30 p.m. start.