Web extra: Broncos defeat Stanford 62-46
By Chris Furnari
All Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey wanted for Christmas were wins over Stanford and Kentucky.
On Saturday Dec. 16, Davey received the first part of that wish, as the Broncos ran the Stanford Cardinal out of Maples Pavilion, winning 62-46.
Behind guards Danny Pariseau and Brody Angley, the Broncos held the Cardinals to just 12 points in the first half. Pariseau led the team in all stat categories with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Stanford, however, played perhaps one of the worst first halves of their young season and never recovered.
"We just didn't knock down shots," said Stanford head coach Trent Johnson. Davey agreed.
"It's a pretty simple deal," Davey said.
"Even though we try to build it up to be something it isn't, it's about making shots. It's not that our defense was so phenomenal. They had a lot of open looks in the first half.'"
The only time Stanford was hitting anything consistently was in the pre-game warm-ups. Despite coming off a win over Texas Tech, the Cardinals' 13-day layoff showed as they shot a mere 14.8% from the field in the first half, and only 27.5% for the game. Stanford guard Mitch Johnson didn't argue with the numbers.
"I don't think it's anything we need to psychoanalyze,'' Johnson said. "It's very simple: They played harder than us. They had more passion. We didn't. And for the couple of minutes that we actually met it, it was a game. Other than that, they kind of whipped our butts."
The Broncos played a much more physical game that started from the tip. With just under four minutes left to play, the Broncos had already built up a 12 point lead, and didn't let up.
After a timeout on the floor, the Broncos returned with a slashing Angley, who made a nice dish to Josh Higgins. Higgins missed the lay-in, but Tristan Parham was there to put it back with an emphatic dunk.
After a quick lay up by Stanford big man Taj Finger, Higgins answered with a 15-foot jumper to give the Broncos another 12 point cushion. From there it was all Broncos for the rest of the first half. Santa Clara struck again with a Mitch Henke drive to the hoop, giving the Broncos a 14-point edge. Brody Angley then added the buzzer beating dagger, to send the Broncos into the locker room with a 28-12 advantage. Although the second half was much of the same, the Cardinal did show signs of hope. With 7:46 left to play, the lead was beginning to shrink, as the Cardinal cut a 22 point deficit to just 11. Stanford fans began to cheer again. That was until Bronco guard Scott Dougherty got his hands on the ball.
Pariseau had been telling Dougherty in the huddle to take the open shot."I kept telling him, 'You're getting open looks'," Pariseau said, `"and you're passing them up."
On the next possession Dougherty wasted no time pulling the trigger. Dougherty nailed a 3-point dagger that sealed the game for the Broncos.
"After he hit that three," Pariseau said, "it took the lid off, because that's what we needed."
The victory was the second on the road for the Broncos, and is the second largest win margin ever between the two squads. It was also their first road win against a Pac-10 team.
The Broncos have now one 6 of their last 7 and will face a tough Kentucky squad Tuesday, December 19th at 4:00 p.m. PT. on the road.