Web update: Santa Clara narrowly loses to St. Mary's 54-50

By Ryan Donough

Santa Clara lost another close game to the No. 21 ranked Saint Mary's on Monday night 54-50.

Santa Clara drops to 4-4 in the West Coast Conference and 12-11 overall. Saint Mary's maintains their share of the conference lead with San Diego at 8-1 and now hold an overall record of 21-3.

The Broncos had the victory within their grasp holding the ball with 1:21 left and the score tied at 50. But the Broncos turned the ball over when junior center John Bryant stepped out of bounds with 52 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing possession, the Broncos defended the Gaels very well but were unable to corral the rebound and junior forward Diamon Simpson was fouled on the put back by senior forward Mitch Henke. Simpson hit both free throws and the Broncos were unable to score on senior guard Brody Angley's jumper with just over four seconds remaining. Senior guard Tron Smith, who led the Gaels in scoring with 15 points, was fouled with 3.6 seconds left and he hit both free throws for the Gaels to clinch the win.

Keating was once again disappointed with another close loss to a conference opponent.

"We put ourselves in too big a hole in a low possession game to have a chance to come back," Keating said. "It is frustrating because we had chances to win."

Bryant had a great night leading all scorers with 21 points with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks to go along with his near perfect night from the line shooting 7 for 8. However, Keating was frustrated with the lack of calls given to Bryant during the game.

"I'm disappointed that John doesn't get the respect he deserves when they beat the crap out of him the whole game and just shove him off the block because he is very difficult to guard," Keating said.

Bryant was backed by Angley who despite scoring 11 points did not have a great night shooting just 3 for 13 from the field. Angley has not played well in his two contests against the Gaels shooting 6 for 29 combined in the two games while turning the ball over a total of eight times which is highly unusual for Angley.

Keating was perplexed as to why Angley hasn't been his usual self against the Gaels this season.

"In both of these games he has made uncharacteristic plays and turnovers that are not indicative of the player he is or the plays that he can make," Keating said.

Santa Clara had a tough time shooting in the first half at a shade over 30 percent from the field and was down by 13 at one point at 30-17. The Broncos turned the ball over 13 times in the first half which the Gaels turned into 13 points. Santa Clara didn't get their first assist in the game until the final basket of the first half on a layup from Bryant.

The Broncos play their next game against Pepperdine on Saturday at 8 p.m.