Men’s Basketball Escapes San Diego
Brownridge scores 19 in Broncos win
Brent HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 18, 2016
The Broncos picked up a big home win against the struggling San Diego Toreros, narrowly defeating them 74-71, in a close heart-pounding game. The Broncos men’s basketball team has two weeks remaining in their regular season schedule and currently stands 5-9 in WCC play and 9-17 overall. They are in a three way tie for sixth place, crucial for WCC tournament seeding.
Jared Brownridge led the Broncos and all scorers with 19 points.
Henrik Jadersten added 12 points, eight rebounds and a block. Brendyn Taylor contributed 10 points and six assists, a game high.
The Toreros entered the game 8-15 (3-9 in WCC) and were offensively led by Duda Sanadze, who had 18 points off the bench. Olin Carter III added 14 points, while Vasa Pusica added 11 points.
The Bronco squad struggled with fouls early in the game.
Emmanuel Ndumanya picked up two quick fouls, forcing the Broncos to put in Matt Hubbard, who received two quick fouls of his own.
When Nate Kratch also picked up two fouls, it forced Jadersten to enter, defending the Toreros’ Jito Kok.
Jadersten flourished with the extended minutes and led all scorers at half with 10 points, including a nifty three pointer off a pump fake, which fooled his defender.
“I think our team did a great job not getting complacent in that game,” Brownridge said. “Although it was a competitive game, it was a slow paced game because the refs were calling a lot of fouls, so it was hard for us to get in a rhythm. I think we did a good job of overcoming that and thank goodness we came out with a win.”
Taylor stole the show during the first half. He intercepted the ball from the Toreros and went coast to coast, slamming the ball home with a huge tomahawk dunk.
At the half, the Broncos led 36-32.
Brownridge, who only had five at the half, heated up in the second and scored 14 points. The star swished a three off an assist from Taylor, and added a fast break layup off a steal.
As the second half wore down, the Toreros resorted to fouling to prolong the game. The Broncos were outscored in the half 39-38, however, the first half lead propelled them to a 74-71 win.
“I expected to come out there and compete,” Brownridge said. “They have one of past coaches, Sam Scholl, on their team, so it’s great to compete with others you used to be with.”
On Saturday the Broncos lost to BYU 96-62. Jared Brownridge led the Broncos with 16 points.
The Broncos travel to Los Angeles in their penultimate week of the regular season.
On Thursday, the Broncos take on Loyola Marymount University (11-15, 4-11) at 7 p.m.
The Broncos dropped their last home matchup against the Lions 76-66. On Saturday, at 5 p.m., the team takes on Pepperdine University (16-10, 9-6). They previously beat the Waves 62-60. Both games will be televised by CSN California and online courtesy of TheW.TV.
“Against Pepperdine, our bench has to be huge, so if they come in, they play hard against Pepperdine,” Brownridge said. “Against LMU is just to bring our competitiveness, because last time they came in and brought their competitiveness and they got us, so I think that’s huge for both games.”
Contact Brent Hanower at bhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.