Nov. 20, 2006
BERKELEY, Calif. - The Santa Clara Broncos fell on Monday night 73-48 to the California Golden Bears at Haas Pavilion as Ryan Anderson had a career-high 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bears. Santa Clara drops to 2-1 on the season. Sean Denison continued his strong play as he scored 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds for SCU. Brody Angley scored eight points and also had seven rebounds in the losing effort.
Santa Clara started off the game strongly moving out to a 14-7 lead behind the inside play of Sean Denison and John Bryant, along with some good outside shooting. However, SCU could not slow the Bears for long as Cal went on a 23-4 run to close the half, taking a 38-24 lead into the locker room.
For the game Santa Clara went just 2-for-18 from 3-point range and shot 33.3 percent for the game in losing for the first time this season.
Santa Clara, picked to finish sixth in the West Coast Conference, had come off a 83-72 win over Utah. The Broncos patiently worked their halfcourt offense against the Bears and took an early 20-15 lead.
Cal, which gave up 56 second-half points in an 86-79 loss to San Diego State on Saturday, kept Santa Clara quiet from that point on, however, and allowed only two more field goals the rest of the first half.
With the defense holding the Broncos in check, the Bears broke out of their offensive slump with a 23-4 run over the final 7:30 minutes of the first half. Ayinde Ubaka had seven points during the run and fed Devon Hardin for a one-handed alley-oop dunk to put Cal ahead 38-24.
The Broncos return to the court on Saturday, Nov. 25 as they host the Nevada Wolfpack at the Leavey Center. Tip off is set for 7:00 p.m. PT as SCU begins a three-game homestand with the defending Western Athletic Conference champions.
