Santa Clara wins at USF; Coach Keating's PreGame
Speech, Highlights and Post-game chat with Trasolini, Smith and
Harrison!
Final
Stats
It was a battle at the end, but Santa Clara got the best of the
Dons as it defeated San Francisco 66-65 at War Memorial Gymnasium
behind Marc
Trasolini's career-high 26 points. Santa Clara is 9-13 and 1-4
in the WCC. USF is 7-13 and 2-2 in the WCC.
Santa Clara hosts No. 10 Gonzaga on Thurs., Jan. 28 and good
seats remain. Call the SCU ticket office at 408-554-4660 or go
online to order at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com.
"We needed this win. Enough with learning. We've learned enough
at least for tonight - this win was good for us. All of our
freshmen continue to grow and Marc's offensive output tonight was
exceptional. Niyi
Harrison might have had his best game for us tonight. Chris
(Cunningham) is also improving even if he didn't play much tonight.
Ray (Cowels) has been one of our best free throw shooters up to now
and being on the road got to him late in the second half," said
Bronco head coach Kerry
Keating. "I can't wait to get back into the gym and practice.
We have two tough games ahead of us next week. It's going to be a
war with Gonzaga - it has been at home the last two years and we
hope we'll be ready."
Santa Clara shot 47.5 percent from the field, including 18.2
percent from beyond the arc. It collected 27 rebounds, nine steals
and nine blocks 13 turnovers. Santa Clara shot just 11 free throws,
hitting eight of them. USF shot 45.3 percent from the field,
including 38.5 percent from beyond the arc. It collected 40
rebounds, five steals and three blocks, but turned the ball over 19
times and shot just 57.1 percent from the free throw line (57.1
percent).
Individually, Trasolini's 26 points led all scorers. He was a
career-high 10 of 15 from the field. Niyi
Harrison scored 11 and a career-high four blocks. Robert
Smith scored 10 points. It was the 16th game in 18 tries Smith
scored in double figures.
USF was led by Kwame Vaughn's 16 points and Dior Lowhorn chipped
in 15 points with 10 rebounds.
In the first half Trasolini scored the first five Bronco points,
including a three-pointer. Each time the Dons answered and took a
9-7 lead at 15:26 after a basket by Smith.
Santa Clara pieced together a 10-0 run from 17:00-12:25.
Harrison hit three straight baskets to give Santa Clara a 13-9 lead
at 13:00. A nifty pass by Troy
Alexander to Ray
Cowels gave Santa Clara a 15-9 lead at 12:25 before the Dons
stopped the run to make it 15-11 SCU at 11:55.
Santa Clara jumped to a 19-11 lead at 10:19. Four Dons baskets
and the game was back to 20-19 USF at 8:47 after the Dons only 8-0
run in a minute and a half. During that run, the first foul of the
game was whistled on Cowels at 9:55.
A basket by Trasolini gave the Broncos the lead back at 8:20,
21-20 SCU.
Lowhorn was whistled for the Dons first foul of the game at 6:41
after Trasolini scored and then hit the free throw, giving SCU a
24-20 lead.
The two teams traded baskets and then two Trasolini free throws
gave the Broncos a 28-23 lead at 4:08.
Santa Clara went from 5:00 to :50. Without a field goal when Michael
Santos knocked down a three-pointer and then Smith hit one with
less than six seconds left to make it 33-27 - the score at
half-time.
SCU shot 50 percent in the first half with USF shooting 44.4
percent. Trasolini scored 12 points and Harrison and Cowels
collected six each.
In the second half Santa Clara took a seven-point lead on two
straight Trasolini baskets and led 37-30 at 18:14. Once again USF
struck back, hitting two free throws and a three-pointer by Angelo
Caloiaro at 17:15, with SCU up 37-35. But Trasolini continued to
wrack up baskets, hitting two open shots to make it 41-35 at
16:13.
After a Harrison basket at 13:35 to make it 45-39, the Dons went
on a 4-0 run. Cowels cut a three minute scoring drought with a
basket at 10:43 with time winding down.
The Broncos took a 54-48 lead on two Ben
Dowdell baskets with a free throw sandwiched between at 8:04.
As before, the Dons answered with a basket to make it 54-50 at
7:59. Alexander made a aggressive play to the basket to put Santa
Clara up 56-50 at 7:30.
Back-to-back baskets by Smith and Trasolini, right at the rim,
gave Santa Clara a 60-50 lead with 5:32 left. A steal by Troy
Payne and Harrison slammed it home for a dunk to give SCU a
62-50 lead, its largest of the game, at 4:45.
USF wasn't done yet. The Dons strung together a 12-2 from 4:45 -
:14.7 when Trasolini sunk two free throws to give SCU a 66-62
lead.
Again, USF wouldn't go away when Caloiaro sunk his third three
of the half to make it 66-65 SCU with just 8.2 left.
Santa Clara threw the ball out of bounds at :7.3 on the clock
and then USF returned the favor when inbouding with :6.8 on the
clock. Cowels missed on the front end of a one and one, but USF
wasn't able to connect down the court and Santa Clara came away
with its first league win of the year.