March 3, 2001
By BERNIE WILSON
AP Sports Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) - Brian Jones scored a game-high 20 points and Jamie Holmes had 15 points and 10 rebounds as the Santa Clara beat Loyola Marymount 77-60 in the first round of the West Coast Conference tournament on Saturday night.
No. 3 seed Santa Clara (19-11), the only team to beat top-seeded Gonzaga in conference play this year, beat the sixth-seeded Lions (9-19) for the seventh straight time.
Jones, a three-time All-WCC pick, had three assists to pull within one of Steve Nash's school career-record of 510.
While the Broncos beat the Lions by eight points in both of their regular-season games, they led by double digits most of the game. Their biggest lead was 19, twice, the first time at 37-18 following Steve Ross' baseline shot with 3:46 to go before halftime.
The Lions closed to 51-44 on Eurskine Robinson's 3-pointer with 12:43 to play, but Santa Clara scored the next six points and was never threatened.
The Broncos got their big lead by going on an 8-0 run early that put them up 22-10. Justin Holbrook hit a 3-pointer in the run and had two of the Broncos' four shots from behind the arc in the first half.
Ross and Holbrook scored 10 each for the Broncos.
Robert Davis led Loyola Marymount with 14 points and Marcus Smith had 12.
