April 18, 2003
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Junior center Jim Howell was honored with two major awards, while twins Brad and Cord Anderson were honored for their contributions to the program at Santa Clara University's annual men's basketball banquet Thursday night in the Benson Memorial Center on the Mission campus.
The Newport, Ore. native was named the team's Most Valuable Player and was also honored with the Bruce Hale Most Inspirational Player award. Travis Niesen and Ethan Rohde shared the Nick Vanos Most Improved Player award, while senior Cord Anderson was named the team's Best Defensive Player.
A highlight of the night's activities was the team's highlight video, annually produced by assistant coach Sam Scuilli, which featured a number of interesting clips of outgoing senior twins Brad and Cord Anderson. The duo was the subject of numerous press articles and local news features as they appeared in the starting lineup together for much of the season after walking on to the Bronco program four years ago.
The Anderson twins (Honolulu, Hawai'i) combined to average over eight points and eight rebounds per game. Cord registered six double-figure rebounding games during the season with two double-doubles. His 21-point, 10-rebound game against Washington was one of the team's individual highlights of the season and his 13-rebound effort a week later against Nevada was the second-highest total of the season for a Bronco.
Brad began and ended the season strong with at least six rebounds in each of the first four games and eight-point, eight board efforts against UC Santa Cruz and Portland. The highlight of the year was a thrilling exchange at the end of the Saint Mary's game when Brad recorded a basket, two steals and a game-winning assist to his brother, Cord, in the final 6.5 seconds to give Santa Clara a 57-56 win in Moraga.
Howell averaged 9.0 points and a team-high 6.2 rebounds per game to lead an undersized Bronco squad that finished third in the West Coast Conference in rebound margin. He registered the third-highest field goal percentage among league players but did not reach the minimum requirements to qualify for WCC rankings. A highlight of Howell's season was a 19-rebound effort at Loyola Marymount, which was the most for a Bronco since Ron Reis grabbed 20 at Alaska-Anchorage in 1991.
Rohde, one of three former walk-ons who started the first five games of the season for the Broncos, finished the season ranked fourth in the WCC in three-point field goals made per game with 2.25. The Seattle, Wash. native also ranked eighth in the league in three-point percentage, making a team-high 63 of his 153 attempts on the season for 41.2 percent. He averaged 9.3 points and 3.4 rebounds per game and started 26-of-28 games.
Niesen, a native of Mission Viejo, Calif., was one of six newcomers on the squad and one of only two true freshmen to step on the court. A determined and aggressive attitude is among his biggest attributes and he generally responded with big performances in big games. Niesen scored a season-high 13 points at Nevada-Las Vegas and chipped-in 10 at Gonzaga.
