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Santa Clara returns home over Thanksgiving weekend to host the 47th Annual Cable Car Classic. The Cable Car Classic, being played for the first time over Thanksgiving, will include host Santa Clara, North Dakota State, Rider and Rice. It is the longest running holiday in the country. In 31 of the Classic's 46 years, the Classic has featured a team that would receive an NCAA bid a few months later. Santa Clara won the Cable Car Classic title last year with a 69-45 victory over Wagner, the previous year's champion. Senior Marc Trasolini was named the MVP.
In the first round of the Cable Car Classic, Santa Clara will host North Dakota State at 8:15 pm on Nov. 29 and Rider and Rice will play the first game at 6 pm. The losers will advance to the consolation game at 6 pm on Nov. 30 and the winners will play in the championship on Nov. 30 at 8:15 pm.
Santa Clara has an all-time record of 53-39 in the Cable Car Classic and has won the title 16 times during its 46-year existence. Rider, Rice and North Dakota State will be playing in the Classic for the first time.
The Broncos enter Thanksgiving weekend with a 2-2 record, including an 84-69 loss at Notre Dame on Nov. 22. North Dakota State is 2-3, including 1-2 on the road this year. In their last game, the Bison dropped a 95-77 game at rival North Dakota on Nov. 24.
Rider comes to the Mission campus with a 1-3 record after winning Nov. 23 at Central Connecticut 89-73 and then dropping its first home game 70-59 to Albany on Nov. 26. To start the season, they lost 92-78 at Leigh on Nov. 12 and fell 81-77 in a close one at Purdue on Nov. 17. Rider's nickname is the Broncs, not the Broncos.
Rice, led by former Cal head coach Ben Braun, is 2-3 this season. They are 1-1 on the road this year and lost at home to Princeton 70-56 on Nov. 23 in their last game.
The Broncos have won seven straight and nine of their last 10 games played at Leavey Center. They are 2-0 this season at home, including an 84-39 victory over Bethesda on Nov. 8 and an 89-77 win vs. San Jose State on Nov. 12.
The Broncos are fresh off a 26-12 campaign last season that saw them win their second post-season title in three years, the CBI at George Mason on April 5 (80-77). It's hard to imagine any team in the country entering this season with more production lost than the Broncos. With the five seniors graduating in June of 2013, they took with them 13,455 minutes played, 6,188 points scored, 2,149 rebounds, 705 assists and 492 steals.
Kerry Keating, entering his seventh season with the Broncos, brought in seven newcomers this season, including Jerry Brown, a graduate transfer from Fresno State. Santa's Clara's roster is thick with diaper dandies, including freshman-redshirt Nate Kratch and four true freshmen: Jared Brownridge, Jalen Richard, Jarvis Pugh and Emmanual Ndumanya. Brownridge has started all four games this season and leads the team in scoring with 19.3 ppg. It is expected that Ndumanya and Pugh will be redshirted this year.
Look, Listen
The N.D. State game will be broadcast live on KLIV 1590 AM with the pregame show starting at 8 pm on Friday. The game can also be found on SantaClaraBroncos.com. Anthony Passarelli is in his sixth season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer. All four games will be live streamed for free on SantaClaraBroncos.com and live stats can be found on statbroadcast.com.
KDOW 1220 AM will broadcast the Broncos game on Saturday night whether they play at 6 pm or 8:15 pm. The game can also be found on the Bronco website, SantaClaraBroncos.com.
Us
Santa Clara brings a 2-2 record home after defeating Bethesda on Nov. 8, 84-39, and then cross-town rival San Jose State, 89-77, on Nov. 12. They dropped an 86-73 game at Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 17 and then fell 84-69 at Notre Dame on Nov. 22.
A duo of newcomers young and old lead the Broncos on the scoreboard. Rookie Jared Brownridge leads the team with 19.3 ppg and junior Brandon Clark chips in 16.8 ppg. After going scoreless his first game, Clark scored a new career high in back-to-back games against San Jose State and Cal State Bakersfield, scoring 23 points each night. He added 21 at Notre Dame.
Yannick Atanga has picked up where he left off last year on the boards and leads the team with 7.3 rpg. Atanga had the 11th double-digit rebound game of his career vs. San Jose State. He led the league in rebounds last season.
Jerry Brown scored his third career double-double and his first for the Broncos with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the win over San Jose State. Marc Trasolini was the last Bronco to record a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds vs. Portland on Jan. 31, 2013.
The Broncos started the 2013-14 season with a bang. SCU came away with a 45-point victory over Bethesda on Nov. 8 to open the year. Santa Clara was led by Brownridge, who scored 25 points, including five threes with six assists. Brownridge was just one three made shy of tying the school record for freshmen set by Steve Nash in 1993. Jalen Richard chipped in 15, Brown 13 and Julian Clarke 11.
Back
Evan Roquemore, the current team's lone 1,000+ career point scorer, came off the bench at 14:56 in the first half at Notre Dame in his first action this season. He missed the first three games with a back issue. Roquemore sits at No. 19 with 1,325 career points. He needs to score 21 points to pass No. 18 Marlon Garrett (1,445 points, 1993-97). He needs to score 262 points to move past No. 10 Ken Sears (1,586 points, 1951-55). Last year's Bronco team was the first team in West Coast Conference history to feature four 1,000 point career scores. Along with Roquemore, the team had seniors Kevin Foster (No. 1, 2,423 points), Marc Trasolini (No. 5, 1,699 points) and Raymond Cowels III (No. 26, 1,090 points).
Roquemore is also No. 4 with 496 career assists. He needs 11 assists to move to No. 3 and he will pass Brody Angley (506 assists, 2004-08). He needs 22 assists to set the school record. It is currently held by Brian Jones (517 assists, 1996-01).Two-time NBA MVP Steve is No. 2 all-time with 510 assists (1992-96).
J This, J That
The Broncos team this year features six players whose first name starts with a "J". The six are: John (McArthur), Julian (Clarke), Jerry (Brown), Jared (Brownridge), Jarvis (Pugh) and Jalen (Richard).
The Broncos also have two Clarke/Clark's. Julian Clarke and Brandon Clark.
The Broncos roster showcases four players from California. They also have one player each from the following states: Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, Arizona, Colorado and Illinois. The Broncos also feature players from Canada (Julian Clarke), Cameroon (Yannick Atanga) and Nigeria (Emmanuel Ndumanya).
Santa Clara has two expected redshirts this year: Emmanuel Ndumanya and Jarvis Pugh.