Santa Clara, 5-4, will play its first game of the 48th annual Cable Car Classic on Sat, Dec. 20 at 2 pm. The Broncos will face the Northeastern Huskies. The Huskies, 6-3, are making their second appearance in the Cable Car Classic, having won the title in 2009.
The game will be broadcast KLIV 1590 AM and on the Broncos' All-Access network at www.SantaClaraBroncos.com. Anthony Passarelli is in his eighth season as the Broncos' play-by-play announcer.
SCU picked up its first win over a Pac-12 team since 2006, riding a 25-point performance from Jared Brownridge in a 76-67 win over Washington State on Dec. 13. Brownridge hit 8 of 14 field goals and 5 of 10 triples to reach the 20-point plateau for a third consecutive game and the 17th time in his career. Three teammates scored in double figures including Brandon Clark (19), Denzel Johnson (12) and a new career-high for Kai Healy (10). It was the first time since March 6, 2014 vs. UOP that four Broncos posted double figure scoring totals.
Santa Clara's last two wins vs. Pac-12 teams were both against Stanford, one at home and one away. Santa Clara won 62-46 at Stanford on Dec. 16, 2006 with Danny Pariseau scoring 16 points with nine rebounds. The Broncos' last home win vs. a Pac-12 team was Nov. 28, 2004 vs. the Cardinal again. They won 86-76 behind the 31 points and 11 boards of Travis Niesen.
Different Format This Year
The format for the 48th Cable Car Classic will be different than in years past. There are three teams, including Santa Clara, and they will play each other once over a six-day span. Santa Clara has won 16 Classic titles over the years, posting a 53-42 record. While Northeastern is making its second appearance in the Classic, this will be Cal Poly's first appearance.
The Broncos are 0-1 all-time vs. the Huskies. NU beat SCU 62-50 on Dec. 29, 2009 in the first round of the 43rd annual Cable Car Classic. Northeastern went on to win the Classic the next night with a 61-58 victory over Kent State.
The Broncos will play Northeastern on Saturday and then Cal Poly in their final game of the Cable Car Classic on Tues., Dec. 23 at 2 pm. The Broncos are 4-2 vs. the Mustangs all-time, including a 64-53 loss in San Luis Obispo, Calif. on Dec. 7, 2013.
On Wednesday night Cal Poly defeated Northeastern 60-58 in Leavey. The Huskies led for over 38 minutes, before CPU grabbed its first lead at 59-58 on a pair of free throws with 52 seconds left. Another free throw by CPU with 30 seconds left gave Northeastern the final possession and a chance to tie or take the lead. Coming out of a timeout with six ticks remaining, the Huskies worked the ball to Quincy Ford at the top of the arc, but his three-point attempt was blocked at the buzzer to seal the game for the Mustangs.
Top-Scoring WCC Back-Court Returns
The Broncos return the West Coast Conference's top-scoring back-court, Jared Brownridge (15.4 ppg, 2014-15; 17.2 ppg, 2013-14) and Brandon Clark (17.4 ppg, 2014-15; 16.9 ppg, 2013-14). Brownridge has started each of the 42 career games he has played in dating back to last season. Clark has started 46 of the 110 games he has played in during his four-year career.
For the first time this year Brownridge (27) and Clark (23) scored 20+ points each in SCU's 68-60 win vs. Rider on Nov. 30. Brownridge had a season-high six threes. They narrowly missed the feat again vs. Washington State with Brownridge scoring 25 and Clark adding 19. .
Scoring 20+ together is nothing new for the duo of Brownridge and Clark, as they did it five times last season. The first time was Nov. 16, 2013 when Brownridge scored 21 and Clark added 23. The last time was Jan. 28, 2014 when Brownridge dropped 30 and Clark added 20.
Brownridge has scored 30+ points three times, all last year. He has scored 20+ points 17 times in his career, including the past three games (vs. Rider, at San Jose State and vs. Washington State). Starting all 42 games of his career, he has scored double figures 33 times. He has scored five or more three six times in his career, including seven twice last year (7 vs. La Sierra, 12/14/13 and 7 at Pepperdine, 3-1-14)
Clark has scored double figures 54 times in his career, including 17 games with 20 or more points the past two years. He also scored 30 or more three times during his career, including a season-high 31 points vs. Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 14.
Sidelined
The Broncos will be without the services of forwards Yannick Atanga (6-8, 230) and Emmanuel Ndumanya (6-9, 270). Atanga had surgery to repair his ACL on Dec. 16 and is out for the remainder of the season. Ndumanya has a left foot injury that has caused him to miss the past seven games.
Brandon
Brandon Clark is No. 25 on the all-time points scored list with 1,199. He needs 82 points to move to No. 20, passing Ralph Ogden (1,280, 1967-70). Clark is tied for No. 3 all-time in free throw percentage. He has made 316 of his 380 free throws attempted, good for 83.2 percent. The school record is held by Steve Nash (86.1 percent, 1991-96).
Kai
The Broncos were expecting to redshirt Kai Healy this season, but announced prior to the Michigan State game on Nov. 24 that he would play this year. He responded with four points and three boards in 19 minutes at Michigan State. He started and scored a key three pointer in the first half in Santa Clara's win vs. Rider on Nov. 30. He has made one field goal in each of the five games he has played.
Healy is a 2013 graduate of The Scots College in Sydney, Australia. The Scots College lost 82-76 to Lake Ginninderra College in the national championship high school game in 2013. Healy had 25 points in that game on 10 of 11 shooting from the field, including making four of five beyond the arc. Dante Exum scored 19 points with 15 assists for Lake Ginninderra. Lake Ginninderra had a 17-point three quarter time lead reduced to four points inside the final two minutes, before they steadied to hold on for the win. Healy's team defeated Exum's team three of the five times they played during their prep career. Exum went on to be the fifth overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Healy was born in Indianapolis, Ind. and moved to Australia prior to his fourth birthday and has lived there with his family since then. His father is a Notre Dame graduate and his mother a University of Indiana graduate.