Santa Clara bucks St. Mary's

By Chris Furnari

The Santa Clara broncos are headed to the West Coast Conference tournament championship game on Monday evening, after defeating the St. Mary's Gaels 63-47 on Sunday night.

For the first time since 2001, the broncos are headed to the championship game, where they will face a hot Gonzaga team. In 2001, they lost to Gonzaga by only three points and will be seeking revenge on a team that has consistently dashed dreams of making the NCAA tournament in the past.

"Our guys know them probably better than anyone in the league, and they know us very well so we will have to play at a very high level and hopefully we can do that," said head coach Dick Davey.

The Broncos began the second half of play Sunday night on a 6-0 run and never let up, but it was their improved defense in the second half that was no doubt a crucial element in the victory.

"For the first 27 games of the season, we were for the most part pretty good defensively, and I think we got back to that tonight," said Davey.

The Broncos shot only shot 42.9 percent from the field but held the Gaels to just 30.5 percent shooting for the game. In the second half, St. Mary's shot a dismal 22.6 percent from the field and struggled to find any rhythm offensively.

John Bryant led the Broncos offensive charge and three other players into double figures with 14 points, a game high. Scott Dougherty recorded a double-double scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 boards.

Tempers flared for a moment after St. Mary's Brett Collins slammed into Santa Clara's Scott Dougherty as he went up for a lay-up. Collins was ejected from the game, and the Gaels Diamon Simpson was given a technical foul. Dougherty made three of the four free throws to extend Santa Clara's lead to 14 with just over a minute left to play.

"Brett is a hell of a player," said Scott Dougherty. "It was just a misunderstanding, with guys rushing in to make sure things were OK. We shook hands afterwards and there were no hard feelings."

It was junior Mitch Henke however that carried the broncos' offensive load in the first half when Santa Clara was struggling to connect from the field. Henke knocked down two crucial three point shots to put the broncos ahead by five heading into the locker room at halftime.

"I think Mitch is starting to get healthy now and I am happy to see him get back on track," said Davey.

The Broncos will square off against a Gonzaga team that ousted a fifth-seeded San Diego team 88-70 just prior to the broncos' victory. The game will air on ESPN and is set to begin at 6:00 p.m.