Santa Clara Tops USF at Home

Jan 10, 2015; Spokane, WA, USA; Santa Clara Broncos guard Brandon Clark (3) warms up before a game against the Gonzaga Bulldogs at McCarthey Athletic Center. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-USA TODAY Sports

Santa Clara (9-10, 3-4) took down their bay area rivals San Francisco (8-11, 2-5) in an afternoon WCC clash.

The Broncos made a living at the foul stripe today, and made the Dons pay as a result. Santa Clara went to the line plenty, shooting 30 free throws as a team and making 24 (80 percent) of their attempts. In particular, Brandon Clark and Jared Brownridge shot 20 times from the charity stripe and connected on 95 percent of their attempts as a pair.

Clark and Brownridge were the Broncos thoroughbreds in the matchup, scoring 23 and 18 points respectively in the victory. Denzel Johnson also finished in double figures and tied Clark for the Broncos game-high in assists with five. Clark’s eight rebounds were also a game-high for the Broncos.

For USF, Kruize Pinkins, Mark Tollefsen and Devin Watson were the primary scorers, posting 16, 14 and 13 points respectively. Tollefsen chipped in 10 rebounds to record a double-double and Watson’s four assists led the Dons.

Notes:

• As insinuated before, free throw shooting was the difference in this contest. Santa Clara rattled in 80 percent of their free throws while USF only connected on 58.3 percent of their foul shots.
• Along with the free throw line, the 3-point line was an Achilles heel for the Dons. USF shot only 18.2 percent from the 3-point line while the Broncos were a stellar 47.6 percent from deep.
• USF’s Matt Glover had a tough night, scoring only two points and recording a team low +/- of -21 in the loss.
• The Broncos posted 15 assists on 18 made baskets, while the Dons only had nine total assists on 23 made baskets.