Led by a pair of Bronco seniors and a 16-0 run in the second half, Santa Clara won 75-67 on Wednesday vs. Utah Valley. Marc Trasolini scored a season-high 29 points with seven rebounds and Kevin Foster added 21 to push the Broncos to 4-0 on the young season. Utah Valley is 3-3. Santa Clara finishes play in the CBE Classic on Friday afternoon with a 4:15 pm game at the Leavey Center vs. Eastern Washington. USC Upstate will play Utah Valley at 2 pm prior to the Bronco game.
"We got stops in the second half," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating. "We were focusing better defensively in the second half. Brandon gave us a huge lift with two deflections on the defensive end. Huge lift. I thought our seniors made senior plays, Marc and Ray in particular. We were able to have another off-shooting night for Kevin and still come out on the winning end and that says a lot about our team."
Trasolini was 10 of 12 from the field and 7 of 8 from the charity stripe, collecting seven rebounds.
"Marc was huge," said Keating. "It was nice to see him back in that mode. Playing with confidence and showing some leadership. He stepped up and made some free throws too. It's a little bit of an indication as to what we missed not having him on the court last year."
Foster scored 21, adding four of five free throws but was just 1 of 9 from beyond the arc. Evan Roquemore poured it on as well, scoring 14 points, including 5 of 5 from the free throw line. Roquemore also added six assists.
"We knew they had some good bigs and played hard on the boards," said Trasolini. "Our defense is something we tried to establish in the second half. We got some stops and it translated into points for us on the offensive end."
Santa Clara shot 46.6 percent (27 of 58), including 23.8 percent from beyond the arc (5 of 21). The Broncos collected 26 rebounds, 14 assists, 11 steals, four blocks and had six turnovers. Utah Valley shot 53.1 percent (26 of 49), including 46.2 percent from beyond the arc (6 of 13). The Wolverines collected 29 rebounds, 15 assists, two steals, two blocks and had 17 turnovers.
Utah Valley drew first blood inside at 18:52. Foster's floater made it 2-2 at 17:42. Roquemore scored a three-point play when he was fouled shooting at 17:04. UVU scored a three before Trasolini scored inside off the glass at 16:05.
Foster scored the second of his two free throws at 15:54. The Wolverines took their first lead of the game (10-8) on back-to-back baskets at 15:27 and 14:59 and a free throw at 14:32.
Robert Garrett's rebound turned into an assist when B. Clark scored at 13:21 to tie it up 10-10. A couple of free throws by UVU gave the Wolverines the lead again.
Down 14-10, the Broncos knotted it up at 17-17 on a layup by Cowels III. The Broncos scored seven straight on an inside basket by Trasolini and a layup by Foster at 7:36. Trasolini scored a three at 6:48 to put SCU up 24-17.
The Wolverines answered with a three of their own at 6:42 and another at 5:28 to pull within one, 24-23 Broncos.
Foster dumped it in from three feet out at 5:07. Foster was called for his second foul and he hit the bench at 4:14. Roquemore's three at 3:41 broke the tie to put SCU up 29-26.
UVU scored inside at 3:16 and 2:58 to take the lead again, 30-29. Trasolini hit a three at 2:19 and Hubbard scored a jumper to tie it up 32-32 at 1:39.
In the first half, Santa Clara shot 41.9 percent (13 of 31), including 28.6 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 14). The Broncos collected 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals, two blocks and had four turnovers. Utah Valley shot 50.0 percent (13 of 26), including 66.7 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 6). The Wolverines collected 15 rebounds, eight assists, two steals, one block and had seven turnovers.
Santa Clara was led individually in the first half by Trasolini's 10 points and five rebounds. Nick Thompson had nine for UVU.
In the opening minutes of the second half Foster's three was added to Trasolini's two free throws to put SCU up 37-36. After UVU scored inside, Trasolini's free throw tied it up 38-38.
After a UVU bucket, Foster scored a three-point play when he was fouled shooting at 16:53. UVU scored the next nine straight.
SCU then went on a 7-0 run from 14:29-12:22. Trasolini scored a three-point play at 14:09 to pull the Broncos within five (49-44). Roquemore squeezed in for a monster one-handed dunk at 13:24 to make it 49-46 UVU. Timeout Wolverines. Trasolini dumped it in falling on the ground for a bucket to pull within one, 49-48. Timeout UVU. UVU scored inside at 12:22 to go up three, 51-48.
Trasolini went inside for a bucket, scored and was fouled. He scored the and one to tie it up 51-51 at 11:50. Roquemore scored a pair of free throws at 10:33 to put SCU up two.
The Wolverines scored five straight to go up 56-53 at 8:52.
The Broncos then went on a 16-0 run starting with Roquemore, who scored on an eight-foot jumper at 8:38. Foster scored inside to put SCU up one at 7:45. Trasolini dunked it at 7:16 and Foster scored a floater at 6:47.
Trasolini was fouled under the basket at 6:00 and he sank both. Atanga dunked it at 5:15 and then scored inside and was fouled at 5:04. He missed the free throw, but Trasolini grabbed the board and a few seconds later, he scored inside to put SCU up 69-56. A runner inside by the Wolverines stopped the run with the Broncos up 11.
The teams traded baskets before Hubbard scored inside to pull the Wolverines within nine at 1:49, 71-62.