Dickerson’s 28 leads San Francisco past Santa Clara

Nov 24, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks guard

(12) dribbles the ball as San Francisco Dons forward

(25) defends at

Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Cole Dickerson scored 28 points and the San Francisco Dons defeated the Santa Clara Broncos 75-66.  The Dons led most of the way, and although the Broncos trimmed the lead to 4 points a couple of times late in the second half, the outcome was not in jeopardy over the last few minutes of the game.  Kruize Pinkins and Mark Tollefsen scored 14 and 12 points respectively to augment Dickerson’s big night.  Matt Glover led the Dons with 13 rebounds while Tim Derksen contributed 4 assists and 6/6 free throw shooting while coming off the bench.

Surprisingly, Dickerson was not the game’s high scorer.  That award went to Santa Clara’s Jared Brownridge, who scored 30 points for the second consecutive the game.  This freshman will be quite the talent for years to come in the West Coast Conference. Brandon Clark was the only other Bronco in double figures, tallying 12 points.  Yannick Atanga also had a nice game with 8 points and 6 rebounds.

KEYS TO THE GAME

San Francisco

✓ – Pound the inside: And that’s exactly what they did.  Starting forwards Cole Dickerson, Mark Tollefsen, and Kruize Pinkins combined for 54 of the Dons’ 75 points.  This is where they have the advantage night in and night out, and these players are the spark behind’s San Francisco’s 6-3 WCC start.

Santa Clara

X – After taking care of academics, Roquemore needs to come to play: Evan Roquemore got 33 minutes off the bench but only contributed 7 points and 1 assist.  I don’t know if he is still bothered by his early-season injury, but he has not been the same this season.

KEY MATCHUP

Avry Holmes vs. Brandon Clark: Edge goes to Clark, but this did not turn out to be as much of an important matchup as I thought it would.  This matchup took a backseat to Dickerson/Brownridge.  Both Holmes and Clark had 5 turnovers, but Clark had 12 points and 4 assists while Holmes had 8 points and 2 assists.

MOVING FORWARD

San Francisco is in good shape in the West Coast Conference, and they will look to get two big wins at home next week against Portland and Gonzaga.  The Dons defeated Gonzaga three consecutive years at home from 2010 to 2012.  We’ll see if they have the magic again this year.

Santa Clara needs Evan Roquemore and all of the big men to step up.  They’ve needed this all season but it has yet to happen.  Santa Clara also has Portland and Gonzaga at home this week, and the Broncos will want to split those two games to remain confident in the West Coast Conference.