Jan. 4, 2001

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - The Santa Clara men's basketball team plays its final tune-up prior to next week's West Coast Conference opener in a Friday night matchup against Idaho State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the new Leavey Center on the SCU campus. Youths wearing Boy Scout uniforms will be admitted free.

The Broncos are 7-7 on the season following Tuesday's 77-72 home win over Murray State. After falling behind by a 40-27 margin on a Racer three-pointer to begin the second half, Santa Clara used a nine-minute, 27-3 run to erase a 13-point deficit. The run was anchored by a combined five three-pointers by juniors Justin Holbrook and Steve Ross and freshman Kyle Bailey. Ross' back-to-back treys broke a 40-all tie and gave Santa Clara a lead it would never relenquish.

Senior Brian Jones leads the Broncos in scoring on the season, averaging 18.2 points per game. Co-captain Jamie Holmes is one of the WCC's rebounding leaders, with an average of 7.1 boards to go with his 14.5 points per game.

Idaho State is 4-6 on the season and is coached by San Jose State grad and former Stanford assistant Doug Oliver. The Bengals dropped a 67-63 overtime decision to Southern Utah in its last outing on December 30. They defeated WCC squad Loyola Marymount by a 71-68 score earlier this season and dropped a 59-55 decision to Utah State. Santa Clara lost to Utah State by a 76-67 score in its season-opener in Alaska.

Tickets are available for the contest by calling the Santa Clara Athletic Ticket Office at 408/554-4660 or by clicking here. Fans unable to attend the game can follow the Broncos on the Internet through the audio broadcast or a live statistics feed by clicking here.

Santa Clara opens its WCC season on Friday, Jan. 12 at Pepperdine.