Men Defeat Cal State Northridge Behind Foster's 20 points and Harrison's Double-Double

Men Defeat Cal State Northridge Behind Foster's 20 points and Harrison's Double-Double

Highlights!

Led by Kevin Foster's 20 points and Niyi Harrison's second career double-double, Santa Clara edged Cal St. Northridge 71-58 at the Leavey Center. With the win, the Broncos improved to 5-2 on the year while the Matadors fell to 1-6 on the season. Santa Clara will travel to Pullman, Washington next weekend to take on the Washington St. Cougars on Sunday at 1 p.m.

"We didn't shoot great.  They are a physical team, they play hard and they pressure you a lot so we were able to get to the free throw line a lot," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating.  "John, Niyi and Yannick did a good job of rebounding.  If we could have made a few more free throws it would have made it easier down the stretch.  I am happy to end the week with a win, headed into finals next week, especially after the cluster of games we played last weekend." 

Foster went four from nine from behind the arc while adding seven rebounds and six assists. Foster has now scored 19+ points in 38 of 84 games in his career. Harrison recorded his second career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Harrison's previous double-double came during his freshman year against Northeastern on Dec. 29, 2009 when he finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Cowels finished with nine points, and Yannick Atanga was productive off the bench, finishing with 5 points and 11 rebounds, one off his career-high vs. UC Merced.

Stephan Hicks led Cal St. Northridge with 18 points and eight rebounds. Josh Greene scored nine points and Vinnie McGhee has 11.

Santa Clara shot 32.7 percent (17 of 52) from the field, including 36.4 percent from beyond the arc (8 of 22). The Broncos collected 48 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and one block.  They shot 67.4 percent from the free throw line (29 of 43) with 12 turnovers. Cal St. Northridge shot 30.6 percent (19 of 62) from the field, including 29.0 percent from beyond the arc (9 of 31). The Matadors collected 38 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals and three blocks.  They shot 84.6 percent from the free throw line (11 of 13) with 11 turnovers.

Harrison was aggressive early, knocking down a pair of free throws twice to open the game. Northridge responded with a quick 8-0 capped by Hicks' three-point play. After the teams swapped buckets the Broncos trailed 10-7 at 15:58 in the first half.

Foster buried a three, and after Harrison knocked down one of two at the line he converted a second chance opportunity on a layup. Josh Greene nailed a wide open three of a screen to answer, but Foster hit a cutting Jordan Akwenuke to put the Broncos back up by two at 15-13. 

Julian Clarke knocked down a free throw but Guei responded with a three.  Hicks hit a pair of free throws and Foster tied the game back up at 18 with a pull up floater on the left baseline.

Aqeel Quinn converted a put back, but McArthur hit a pair of free throws to even the game at 20 at 6:59. After Vinnie McGhee knocked down a three the Broncos strung together a 13-2 run, highlighted by Roquemore's four-point play.

John Hayward-Mayhew ended the run with a pair of free throws and Hicks nailed a three in the left corner.  Brandon Clark and McGhee exchanged a pair of free throws and the teams swapped buckets just as the first half ended giving the Broncos a 38-34 lead heading to the locker room.

In the first half, Santa Clara shot 35.7 percent (10 of 28) from the field, including 50.0 percent from beyond the arc (5 of 10). The Broncos collected 24 rebounds, seven assists, one steal, and one block. They shot 76.5 percent from the free throw line (13 of 17) with eight turnovers. Cal St. Northridge shot 36.7 percent (11 of 30) from the field, including 38.7 percent from beyond the arc (5 of 13). The Matadors collected 15 rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks.  They shot 100 percent from the free throw line (7 of 7) with six turnovers.  Foster led the Broncos with 12 points and five rebounds while Niyi Harrison added seven points and six rebounds. Hicks paced Cal St. Northridge with 12 points, going four from eight from the field and adding 5 rebounds. Guei added eight points for the Matadors.

Cowels III opened up the scoring in the second half with a three from the right corner. After a Matador free throw, the two teams traded baskets until Hicks converted a second chance opportunity.

Atanga converted an and-one and after a Matador bucket Foster knocked down his fourth three of the game. After Greene and Cowels swapped threes, both teams went scoreless for nearly four minutes. Harrison knocked down a free throw at 9:51 to give the Broncos a 53-44 lead. The lead was pushed to 11 after Niyi Harrison intercepted a pass in the back court and threw down a thunderous jam.

Hicks ended the Matadors scoreless drought of six minutes with back-to-back mid-range jumpers. Foster responded with a pair of free throws. Atanga knocked down two free throws and Roquemore added one of his own.

Greene tallied a three to cut the lead to 60-51 at 2:59. The teams exchanged free throws before Foster finished an easy layup. Roquemore iced the game by hitting four free throws in a row for Santa Clara to push the lead to 69-52 at 1:15. 

 

Santa Clara – CSU Northridge Game Notes Dec. 3, 2011

Santa Clara is 5-2 and CSU Northridge is 1-6.  The Broncos lead the series with the Matadors 3-0.

Santa Clara has started the same five the first five games of the season: G Evan Roquemore, G Kevin Foster, G Raymond Cowels III, F Niyi Harrison and F John McArthur.

In the first half the Broncos, down 23-20 at 6:10, went on an 13-2 run to go up 33-25 until CSUN hit a pair of free throws at 3:04.

Santa Clara led 38-34 at halftime. Santa Clara is 4-0 when leading at halftime this season and 56-21 under Coach Keating in the past five years.

Harrison collected his second career double-double with a dunk at 8:14.  He finished the game with 10 points and 11 rebounds.  His first career double-double was vs. Northeastern Dec. 29, 2009 (13 pts., 11 reb.)

Kevin Foster has scored 15+ points in 56 of his 84 games.  He has scored 19+ 38 times during his career.