Nov. 12, 2006
Santa Clara, Calif. - The Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball team opened play on Sunday at the Leavey Center with a 90-60 exhibition win over Notre Dame de Namur. Centers John Bryant and Josh Higgins led the way with 13 points apiece in the victory, which saw the Broncos shoot 60 percent from the field. All 14 players scored in the game and the Broncos out-rebounded the Argonauts 38-22 overall.
The Broncos started the game off in style as Mitch Henke threw a lob to Brody Angley for an easy lay-up on the first possession of the game. On the Argonauts first possession, Angley made a steal and drove for another lay-up before finding Sean Denison for a breakaway jam to give the Broncos a 6-0 lead right off the bat.
Midway through the first half, Davey made wholesale changes and the second team sparked a 14-2 run that put Santa Clara in the driver's seat. With Santa Clara leading 21-14, Scott Dougherty, Joey Kaempf and Danny Pariseau hi three pointers on consecutive possessions to key the run.
The Broncos led 40-31 at halftime after a late surge by the Argonauts, who compete in Division II.
SCU opened the second half with a 15-2 run to open up a 55-33 lead and put the game away. Bryant fueled the run with five points, while Calvin Johnson and Angley also hit three-pointers during the stretch.
From there, the Broncos continued to pull away and got the lead up to 30 points (75-45) with just under six minutes remaining. SCU shot 62 percent from the field in the second half.
All four newcomers to the squad had solid games for SCU as junior transfer Higgins scored 13 points and hauled down six rebounds, while senior transfer Pariseau scored seven points and handed out six assists in their first appearances. Freshman Jonathan Gunderson hit two three-pointers and was perfect from the free-throw line while playing both the point guard and off-guard spots. Freshman small forward Cedric Latimer contributed four points on the afternoon.
Santa Clara opens the regular season on Tuesday, Nov. 14 against Holy Names University at 7:00 p.m. PT, before hosting the University of Utah Utes on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 7:00 p.m. Both games will be played at the Leavey Center. For tickets, call 408-554-4660 or visit SantaClaraBroncos.com.
