WCC Basketball Fans

San Francisco 68, Santa Clara 62

Amidst the rise of one brand-name school in the Pacific time zone and the pronounced decline of another, there’s a third team that’s stirring things up in the wild, wild West. It’s not a team that was expected to do much of anything at all when this college basketball season began.

Rashad Green posted 18 points and San Francisco survived a late mini-run by Santa Clara to grab an immensely satisfying win at home at the War Memorial Gymnasium in San Francisco. The Dons extended their lead to as many as 16 points with just under seven minutes left (at 61-45) thanks to a 7-0 run and then hung on to pick up the victory. With the win, the Dons moved into sole possession of second place in the West Coast Conference, while the Broncos fell into a third-place tie with Gonzaga.

It’s all so hard to wrap your mind around if you’re a college basketball junkie: The way the West Coast Conference is supposed to work is that Gonzaga should win the WCC while Saint Mary’s comes in a strong but clear second. The two teams get quarterfinal-round byes in the conference tournament in Las Vegas and then meet in the championship game. It’s all so clean and reliable, and it’s happened in each of the past two seasons. In 2008, Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s finished 1-2 as well, but they didn’t meet in the final of the WCC Tournament (San Diego did). As you can see, GU and SMC have owned this precinct of college basketball’s vast kingdom with uncommon consistency, so the notion of anyone breaking up this axis of power is really rather startling.

Yet, here are the Dons, who – as mentioned above – forged ahead of Santa Clara in the league standings despite shooting only 42 percent from the field. Head coach Rex Walters’ team got only 4 points from its bench against Santa Clara, but it still found enough grit and elbow grease to dig out a tough triumph. USF is now in position to take the number two seed and that precious quarterfinal bye from Gonzaga, all while Saint Mary’s pushes toward the top seed in the WCC. San Francisco would like nothing more than to enjoy a day off on the Saturday of the WCC Tournament’s weekend and scout its quarterfinal foe. Getting the two seed in the league means the Dons would need to win just two tournament games to punch a ticket to Bracketville in the middle of March.

For the Dons, the win was a solid bounce back from an unfortunate loss at Pepperdine a week ago and their eighth win in ten games. They also swept the season series from Santa Clara. The Dons also got 14 points from Perris Blackwell and 13 apiece from Michael Williams and Angelo Caloiaro.

For the Broncos, Evan Roquemore posted 16 points. Kevin Foster, the WCC’s leading scorer entering the game at 19.2 points per game, was held to 14 points on a miserable 4-of-18 shooting night, including a forgettable 0-of-10 clip from three-point range. He wasn’t the only Bronco to struggle – the team shot a combined 33 percent from the field. Moreover, SCU head coach Kerry Keating could only watch as his team’s offense, which had scored over 70 points in five straight games, struggled to break 60 on Saturday, hurt by Roquemore and Foster. The duo was a dud, combining to go 7-of-30 from the field and 1-of-15 from three-point range. The loss snapped the Broncos’ five-game winning streak that included wins over Gonzaga and Portland.

The more this season continues, the more it feels like a commercial for your favorite side dish: The Dons are rolling… “the San Francisco treat” just keeps getting better as the weeks pass by.

Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer