Jan. 25, 2001
PORTLAND, Ore. - The Santa Clara men's basketball team completes its two-game road swing to the Northwestern schools in the West Coast Conference Saturday when it faces Portland. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. (Pacific) and the contest will be televised live (tape delayed in the Bay Area) by Fox Sports Net.
The Broncos are coming off a 70-64 loss at Gonzaga on Thursday night in Spokane. The Broncos shot just 29 percent from the field but held the Bulldogs to 1-of-17 from behind the three-point arc in the game to have a chance to win.
Santa Clara was within three points of the Bulldogs at 67-64 with just :12 seconds left on the clock. The Bulldogs capitalized on two trips to the foul line to claim the final six-point margin of victory. Brian Jones led three Broncos in double figures with 14 points. Kyle Bailey and Justin Holbrook added 12 each. Jamie Holmes recorded 11 rebounds.
Portland dropped an 87-72 decision to the University of San Diego on Thursday night.
Tim Frost led a quartet of Pilots in double figures with 20 points, and Coky Rochin had his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Ryan Jones added 16 points, and Travis Andrews 12. The Pilots (9-9/2-3) never completely recovered from a 42-28 halftime deficit, and after getting to within 61-50 after a Philip Dejworek layup, USD ripped off a 12-2 run for a 73-52 edge.
Portland did manage to counter that advantage with their own 13-2 run to get within 75-66 at 2:18 left. Despite getting just one field goal in the final 8:12 of the game, San Diego maintained control thanks to 12-of-12 free throw shooting in that same stretch.
Jones leads Santa Clara in scoring with an average of 16.8 points per game. He is seventh on the all-time scoring charts at Santa Clara with 1,545 career points. He is on pace to become the first player in WCC history to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in a career. He needs just 29 assists to surpass 500 for a career and is 39 assists from catching Steve Nash on the SCU all-time list.
Against Gonzaga, Jones also moved into second on the Bronco charts for career starts with 104 and is just three starts short of Kurt Rambis' career mark of 107.
Jamie Holmes is Santa Clara's rebound leader, averaging a team-high 7.3 boards per game. He is also second on the team in scoring with an average of 13.8 points per game. Junior transfer Steve Ross is the only other Bronco in double figures with an average of 10.8 points per game since becoming eligible to participate on Dec. 18.
Following the Portland contest, Santa Clara travels to San Diego to take-on the Toreros of USD on Wednesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the new Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Broncos return home on Saturday to face the same USD squad at the new Leavey Center at 7:30 p.m.
Ticket information for all Santa Clara home games, as well as the WCC Tournament to be held Mar. 3-5 in San Diego, call the Athletic Ticket Office at 408/554-4661 or Click Here.