Dec. 30, 2002

Currently riding a five-game win streak, the Santa Clara University men's basketball team is ranked 23rd in the nation among mid-major colleges and universities, according to CollegeInsider.com's latest national mid-major poll.

The Broncos enter Monday night's game against Wright State with an 8-3 overall record after knocking-off Mississippi Valley State and Princeton to win its third Cable Car Classic championship in four seasons Saturday at the Leavey Center.

Santa Clara sophomore Ethan Rohde scored a career-high 22 points and the Broncos shot over 57 percent from the field in its 77-71 win over Princeton. The Broncos were able to mount a defensive effort that limited the Tigers' back-door offense and limited Princeton to just 37 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

Playing without the services of Kyle Bailey for the fifth-straight game, Rohde and freshman guard Brandon Rohe picked-up the slack with the latter pouring-in a career-high 29 points in the first round win over MVSU. The scoring output was the highest for a Bronco freshman since Brian Jones against Marquette in 1996.

Record Points Previous 1 Creighton (31) 10-0 725 1 2 Butler 10-0 694 3 3 Gonzaga 8-4 667 2 4 New Mexico State 8-2 611 5 5 Kent State 7-1 589 7 6 Utah State 9-2 577 8 7 College of Charleston 9-2 560 4 8 Weber State 10-3 498 12 9 Davidson 6-2 489 9 10 Southern Illinois 5-3 436 6 11 Wisconsin-Milwaukee 9-3 423 11 12 Yale 5-2 384 15 13 Pepperdine 8-4 335 20 14 Oral Roberts 7-3 318 10 15 Pennsylvania 3-2 301 14 16 Western Michigan 7-2 256 19 17 Hampton 4-2 213 13 18 Arkansas-Little Rock 8-5 198 17 19 Manhattan 7-3 182 NR 20 UNC-Wilmington 5-3 176 NR 21 Murray State 6-2 117 NR 22 Central Michigan 6-2 108 21 23 Western Kentucky 6-5 83 16 23 Santa Clara 8-3 57 NR 25 Cal State Northridge 6-4 52 23

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES: Holy Cross 51, Illinois-Chicago 48, VCU 39, Northern Arizona 37, Quinnipiac 34, Eastern Washington 32, UC Irvine 25, Louisiana-Lafayette 19, Chattanooga 16, Troy State 16, San Diego 12, Iona 10, Siena 7, Ball State 5, New Orleans 5, Wright State 5, Marshall 4, Pacific 4, Boston University 2, Austin Peay 1, Jacksonville State, McNeese State 1.

NOTE: The Mid-Major Poll is made up of teams from the following conferences: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Continent, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Sun Belt, West Coast.

The CollegeInsider.Com Mid-Major Top 25 is now in its fourth year of existence.