The Santa Clara men's basketball team won its final non-conference game of the season 85-59 over Houston Baptist on Sunday afternoon.
"This was a frightening game for me," said Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating, who admitted to staying up late last night watching film of Houston Baptist's near upset of Utah State. "They are a talented team, and I credit them for staying in there and making our guys earn it."
The win puts the Broncos (9-13, 1-4) on their first winning streak since late December when the Broncos won back-to-back games to win the 44th Cable Car Classic championship.
Center John Bryant earned his 15th double-double of the season with 20 points and 21 rebounds. Bryant trails only Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, who notched his 16th double-double of the season last night against Baylor, for the national lead.
The 6-foot-11 Santa Clara senior faced serious competition under the hoop Sunday afternoon: Houston Baptist's Mario Flaherty is listed at 6-foot-9 while both Emanuel Willis and Jeremy Harvard are 6-foot-8.
"We were watching film on them and they are definitely physical," Bryant said of Houston Baptist's big lineup. "But I like the physicality of the game."
Freshman guard James Rahon was a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line and led Santa Clara with 25 points. Rahon left the court with 7:37 remaining to a loud ovation from the Leavey Center crowd.
Keating said the emergence of Rahon and fellow freshman Kevin Foster, who scored 15 points, has allowed senior Calvin Johnson to regain his confidence.
"The adjustment in our team now with Kevin and James being able to score has put Calvin's focus on defense and passing the ball to John," said Keating. "He's come a long way in a short time this season."
Johnson finished Sunday with 9 points and a rebound.
Guard Andrew Puzyk led Houston Baptist (2-18) with 20 points and Gordon Watt pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds.
Watt, the Huskies' leading scorer, was held out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive game. The 6-foot-6 senior lead the team with 18.2 points and 8.6 rebounds enter today's contest.
"A lot of our focus was on him because he's a big time player," Keating said of Watt.
The Broncos were only 4 points shy of their highest output of the season, when they defeated UTEP 89-88 in overtime of the Cable Car Classic championship.
Santa Clara will next host Loyola Marymount Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Leavey Center.
BRONCOS NOTEBOOK: By Matthew Cucuzza and Cecile Nguyen
Sunday's game was the first ever meeting between the Houston Baptist and Santa Clara.
Rarely played Santa Clara guards Nate Mensah and Phillip Bach saw some action toward the end of today's game. Mensah played a season-high three minutes and was 0-for-1 from the field and collected two rebounds in his sixth game of the year. Appearing in only his fourth game of the season, Bach had one turnover and was 0-for-2 from the free throw line in his season-high two minutes of action.
Houston Baptist is now 0-11 on the road this season; they have not won a road game since Jan. 30, 2008 when they defeated Huston-Tillotson 89-65.
The Huskies are in the second year of its transition to the Great West Conference. Houston Baptist is not eligible to compete for GWC basketball championships until the 2009-2010 season.
Houston Baptist head coach Ron Cottrell was hit with a technical foul with 15:44 remaining after arguing a foul called against Huskies guard Andrew Puzyk. The coach had to be physically restrained by his coaching staff from the officials and could be heard shouting as Santa Clara's James Rahon sank both of the ensuing free throws.
NBA scouts from the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns were present at Sunday's game.
Men's basketball wins first conference game, defeat USF By Kurt Wagner
The San Francisco Dons awoke a sleeping giant Friday night when they came to take on "Big John" Bryant and the Santa Clara Broncos at the Leavey Center. Bryant notched his 14th double-double of the season, finishing the game with 18 points and 12 rebounds, in a 70-54 Santa Clara victory.
The Broncos shot a healthy 54 percent from the field in the win to claim their first West Coast Conference win of the season.
Both Santa Clara and San Francisco came into the game sitting in the cellar of the WCC at 0-4.
"We're slowing starting to figure things out in terms of what's important to help us win," said Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating.
On the game's first possession, Bronco freshman guard Kevin Foster set the tone for the night when he nailed a deep 3-pointer from well beyond the arc as the shot clock wound down.
Foster finished with 9 points on the evening and set a career-high with 7 assists in the game, moving from his normal wing position to point guard for the injured Troy Alexander.
Fellow freshman James Rahon lead the charge for the Bronco's with a career-high 21 points and hitting 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
"I haven't really been shooting like I wanted in previous games," said Rahon. "I just (tried to) get a couple more shot up during the week, and it definitely paid off."
After an early 5-5 tie, Santa Clara pulled ahead with a 14-2 run, winning the battle of the glass by outrebounding the Dons 10-3 during that span.
As time wound down in the first half, Bryant tipped in his own miss to send the Bronco's into the locker room with a comfortable 33-17 lead.
The Bronco's cruised in the second half, easily taking home the victory.
Santa Clara also showed why they boast one of the conferences better defenses. The Dons' 17 first half points were a season-low for San Francisco.
Kwame Vaughn led the Dons with 14.
San Francisco forward Dior Lowhorn made only 2 of 11 first half shots before finishing the game with a well below average 13 points. Lowhorn leads the WCC with 20.3 points per game entering tonight's contest.
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