The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Dec. 20 the watch list of candidates for the 2013 Bob Cousy Collegiate Point Guard of the Year Award and Bronco junior Evan Roquemore is on the list. The annual honor, named for Hall of Famer and former Boston Celtic Bob Cousy, recognizes the top point guards in men's college basketball. Over 80 candidates have been nominated for the 2013 Bob Cousy Award.
Roquemore leads the West Coast Conference and ranks 15th nationally with 6.5 assists per game and has handed out five or more in each of the last 10 games with a season-high 10, one shy of his career-best, against Pacific Union on Dec. 8. Roquemore has 72 assists for the season and is on pace to break John Woolery's 1993-94 single season record of 190 and could also become the fourth Bronco with 500 career assists by the end of his junior season. Roquemore, who currently has 369 career assists, ranks 8th on the school's career list.
Roquemore scored his 1,000th career point with his second made free throw to ice the game at UOP with 2.7 seconds left on Dec. 15, becoming the 30th player in SCU history to reach that level. Roquemore scored 21 points with a career-high tying seven rebounds, eight assists and two steals playing in all but two minutes of the game. It was his third 20-point game of the season and 10th of his career. "He did play a lot of minutes and he responded. Evan is doing a tremendous job of running the offense," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating.
Roquemore followed with 16 points and 5 assists, hitting 9-of-10 free throws, in a 72-64 win vs. Cal Poly on Dec. 17. During SCU's current 4-game win streak, Roquemore has scored 57 points with 28 assists and just seven turnovers.
Santa Clara (9-2) will host the 46th Annual Cable Car Classic on Fri., Dec. 21 – Sat., Dec. 22. Last year's champion, Wagner, is back to defend its title and will square off against SMU at 6 pm on Friday. Immediately following, Santa Clara will face Alcorn State at 8:15 pm. With four straight wins the Broncos improved to 9-2 in 2012-13, their best 11-game start to a season under head coach Kerry Keating, and their best start since posting the same record through 11 games in 1988-89. With their 75-71 win at Pacific on Dec. 15, the Broncos have also won three consecutive true road games at the start of a season for the first time since the 1993-94 season.