Behind Trasolini and Dowdell's Career-Bests, Men Outlast LMU in Double OT; SENIOR NIGHT SATURDAY AT 7 PM!
See photos from tonight and the season
SENIOR NIGHT SATURDAY VS. PEPPERDINE AT 7 PM!!!!
Santa Clara, Calif. – In front of a national television audience on ESPNU, making its first 21 free throws and finishing 37-42 for the night from the line, Santa Clara battled back to win 94-88 in double-overtime over LMU. The 37 Bronco free throws made were the most the Broncos have made since they hit 42 vs. Gonzaga on Dec. 23, 1968. Santa Clara swept the season series with LMU.
Santa Clara is 3-0 when scoring 90+ this year and 1-1 in overtime this year (lost 85-79 to Washington State on Dec. 19). It was Santa Clara's first double overtime game since it lost 87-82 vs. Gonzaga Feb. 2, 2008. Three of the four WCC games went to overtime tonight with USF and Gonzaga both winning.
Santa Clara is 17-13 and 7-6 in the WCC and LMU is 10-19 and 2-11 in the WCC. Santa Clara hosts Pepperdine in the final home game of the year on Sat., Feb. 26 at 7 pm. It's the lone Santa Clara game in the WCC that will not be televised. It's Senior Night with Santa Clara celebrating Nate Mensah, Michael Santos, Ben Dowdell and Troy Payne and senior manager Ramon Meacham.
"I'm really proud of our effort tonight. Ben and Marc were huge. Evan Roquemore was huge. Ray came off the bench and hit two free throws which were huge. Michael Santos made a huge bucket in the second overtime," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating. "I am happy to get the win. I know there were three overtime games in the WCC tonight with teams fighting hard here at the end and so I am really happy we came away with a win. We knew the threes weren't falling for us so we went inside and made it to the line a lot too. We attacked inside, were successful so now we know we can do it."
Santa Clara shot 40.9 percent from the field (27 of 66), including 16.7 percent from beyond the arc (3 of 18). They collected 48 rebounds, 16 assists, nine steals and four blocks with 18 turnovers. Santa Clara shot 88.1 percent from the free throw line (37 of 42). LMU shot 49.3 percent from the field (34 of 69), including 31.6 percent from beyond the arc (6 of 19). They collected 37 rebounds, 14 assists, 11 steals and four blocks with 20 turnovers. LMU shot 63.6 percent from the free throw line (14 of 22).
Santa Clara's nine steals gives Santa Clara the longest streak in the country with 6+ steals in 21 straight games.
Individually Santa Clara was led by career-best 31 points for Marc Trasolini and 26 for Ben Dowdell. Dowdell also picked up his second career double-double with a career-best 14 rebounds. Trasolini was 17 of 20 from the free throw line. It was the best performance since Steve Nash was a school record 21 of 21 vs. Saint Mary's on Jan. 7, 1995. Trasolini'S 17 at the line ties the school's second-best performance ever (Nash, vs. Maryland, March 15, 1996). Evan Roquemore played a career-high 49 minutes, scoring 14 points with six assists – breaking Brian Jones' freshman school record with 121 assists this season (previous was 119 by Jones in 1996-97). Troy Payne had 12 rebounds and eight points with three steals. Trasolini added nine rebounds. Foster had 11 points and six assists, but was 1 of 11 from the three-point.
Trasolini is six points from 1000 career points. He will be the second Bronco to achieve that this year as Foster scored his 1000th vs. Portland on Jan. 22. Foster and Trasolini would be the first duo to both hit 1,000 career points in the same season since then-seniors Jens Gordon and Mitch Burley did it in 1988-89. Gordon scored 522 points that season to finish his career with 1,356 and Burley scored 377 to finish with 1,258 career points.
"I got going early," said Trasolini. "I talked with the coaches this week and I clearly wasn't doing what I needed to do the last few games. Everyone felt that way – everyone expected more out of me and I expected more out of myself. I took care of my body and I worked really hard. I came out super aggressive tonight and got going early. I wanted to get to the free throw line and got fouled, and got a lot of points there. That really got me going and kept me in the game. Coach Keating challenged the posts after our losses last weekend on the road and said we needed to finish down low. Ben and I took that to heart and just really stepped up our game. We are looking forward to senior night. It's a chance for them to have their last home game here, have some fun and get another win."
Drew Viney scored 30 for the Lions, Anthony Ireland added 21 and Vernon Teel scored 17. Tiney grabbed 11 rebounds.
In the early going in the first half Ireland scored the Lions first two baskets between a Trasolini put-back at 18:10. Ayodeji Egbeyemi scored at 16:22 before Trasolini connected on two free throws to make it 6-4 Lions at 16:10.
Payne tied it up with a lay-up on a nifty pass from Trasolini at 15:31. Viney drained a three at 15:02 before Trasolini responded with a two under the basket at 14:58. Teel stole the ball and scored; and then Viney scored under the basket to make it 15-8.
Dowdell stopped a 6-0 LMU run with a basket at 11:51. Trasolini scored his eighth point of the first half at 10:30 on a quick pass from Foster; and then added his 10th point at 9:55. Viney hit a three at 9:40 to silence the 6-0 run before Trasolini scored again at 9:29.
After a Lion basket, Santa Clara went on a 12-0 run. Trasolini hit Payne for a basket at 8:21. After two free throw miscues by Godwin Okonji, Payne tied it up 20-20 with his own put-back at 6:20.
Santa Clara took its first lead of the game on two free throws by Foster at 6:09, 22-20 Broncos. Foster stole the ball from Ireland and went the distance to put SCU up by four at 5:49. Dowdell scored on a goal-tending call to make it 26-20 Broncos at 5:10 and added another bucket at 4:22 on a pass by Foster.
Viney went on an 8-0 run by himself to pull the Lions within three in the last 30 seconds. SCU 33-30 at halftime.
In the first half, Santa Clara shot 40.0 percent from the field (14 of 35), including 12.5 percent from beyond the arc (1 of 8). They collected 19 rebounds, nine assists, six steals and two blocks with seven turnovers. Santa Clara shot 100 percent from the free throw line (4 of 4). LMU shot 54.2 percent from the field (13 of 24), including 50.0 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 8). They collected 14 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and three blocks with 12 turnovers. LMU shot 0.0 percent from the free throw line (0 of 2).
Individually Santa Clara was led by Trasolini who scored 12 points (5 of 8 from the field). Dowdell added eight and Payne had six with three steals. LMU's Viney led all scorers with 17 in the first half, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc.
In the second half LMU turned it over right out of the gate but Teel scored at 18:55. Egheyemi hit a free throw to tie it up and then after he missed the second, the Lions grabbed the rebound to score and go up 35-33 at 17:25.
LMU was in the midst of a 20-3 run dating back to the first half. Dowdell scored a three point play at 16:46 to account for the Broncos scoring in the second half.
A Keating timeout to rally the troops resulted in a Foster two-pointer at 15:22. Ireland scored at 13:41, 44-38 Lions. Trasolini was fouled on the next possession by Ireland, his third, and he sank both, 44-40 Lions at 13:14. Viney scored again at 12:52.
Ashley Hamilton dunked two Broncos before Foster responded with his first three of the game at 12:17. It was his 106th three of the season, moving him into a tie with Peter McKelvey of Portland (106, 1991-92) for the No. 4 position on the West Coast Conference single season bests list.
Hamilton scored his third personal foul when holding Trasolini and he sank both at 11:36. Trasolini added a bucket to pull the Broncos within one on a dandy pass by Michael Santos.
Up 48-47, the Lions whistled for time at 10:57 and then went on an 8-0 run. Viney scored in the paint, Hamilton added a three-point play and Ireland drained a three.
Roquemore stopped the run with a three at 9:02 to make it 56-50. Dowdell scored between Ireland and Viney baskets. Hamilton was whistled for his fourth foul of the night on Dowdell. After the media timeout, Dowdell sank both, 60-54 Lions at 7:49.
Foster went in the lane for a bucket at 6:42. Hamilton hit a free throw and then Trasolini hit the line again to drain both, his 20th point of the night, to make it 61-58 at 5:24.
Hamilton fouled out on the offensive end with seven points at 5:15. The teams traded possessions. Payne picked up his third foul, but Teel missed the first free throw and Dowdell grabbed it and scored his 17th point of the night to make it 61-60 at 3:47.
The Lions scored two buckets before Okonji fouled Roquemore, his fourth, at 1:33 and he sank both. 65-64 Lions.
Teel threw it out of bounds at 1:16. Timeout Broncos. With time winding down, Keating whistled for time again at :50.0. After Foster's shot bounced off the rim with less than a second left on the shot clock, Payne put it in the hoop at :22.7 to put SCU up 66-65. Timeout Broncos.
After LMU in-bounded and worked the ball around, the Lions bench whistled for timeout at :12.0. Payne was whistled for a foul with :1.6 left on the clock and Ireland, a freshman sank the first and missed the second, to push the game to overtime.
The Lions scored first in overtime. Okonji picked up his fifth foul on Trasolini and the Vancouver native sank both to tie it up 68-68 at 3:27.
Trasolini tied his career high with his 26th point, a basket in the paint, at 2:52 (vs. USF, Jan. 23, 2010). The 12th free throw was a career high (hit 11 vs. UNLV Dec. 5, 2009).
Teel scored a three-point play at 2:09 to give the Lions a 72-70 lead. Viney hit one free throw to make it 73-70 Lions at 1:47.
With 91 seconds on the clock, Dowdell scratched and clawed under the basket to score a three-point play and tie it up 73-73. After a defensive stop, Dowdell picked on Tim Diederichs to pick up a foul at :45.9. Timeout LMU. After the timeout Dowdell hit the first to give the Broncos a 74-73 lead. The Broncos were 21 of 21 up to that point.
Payne fouled out with 35 seconds left and Teel scored one to tie it up 74-74. Rebound Dowdell. Time ran out and the team's were headed to their second overtime.
Entering the second overtime, Roquemore hit two free throws at 4:50. Teel hit two free throws at 4:41 before Viney picked up his fourth foul. Dowdell scored a pair of free throws to give himself a career-high 23 at 4:11.
Wrestling for a jump-ball Diederichs fouled Trasolini and he sank both to put SCU up 80-76 at 3:49. Trasolini hit the free throw line again, hitting the first (16 straight) and missing the second. Trasolini had a career-high 30 points at this point, 16 coming from the free throw line. 81-78 Broncos.
Michael Santos scored the bench's first points of the game at 2:35. Dowdell scored at 1:30 to put SCU up 85-80.
Diedrichs fouled out at 1:13 and Raymond Cowels III sank both to put SCU up 87-80. He added the benches fourth points of the night, all scored in overtime.
Trasolini stepped to the line, again, to hit one and put SCU up 88-80 at 1:04. Dowdell skied for a rebound and was fouled. He made one.
Ireland scored at :29.8 and the Lions bench called timeout with the Broncos up 89-82.