DEREK SADAM
Staff Writer
With two games over the extended holiday weekend, and only one practice the previous week, the men’s basketball team battled in the Bay Area over the weekend, but came home empty-handed.
Losses to Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara dropped the Waves to 6-14 overall and a winless 0-4 record in West Coast Conference play.
Saturday night, the Waves quieted the sold-out McKeon Pavilion as they stayed with Saint Mary’s the entire game.
“It was amazing to see a sold-out crowd react to our intensity,” said junior Matt Poland. “The Waves came into a usually loud arena and hit the mute button.”
Freshman forward Tyrone Shelley led the Waves with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Junior guard Rico Tucker added 16 points and 4 assists in the losing effort, however, Saint Mary’s point guard Todd Golden nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to put away the game late in the fourth quarter.
“I felt that I came out strong to start the game,” said a disappointed Shelley. “We came out a little flat in the second half and that is what did us in.”
After the game, new interim coach Eric Bridgeland wanted to keep the momentum going into Monday’s game.
“We needed a win here (at Saint Mary’s), and we’ll try and get one against Santa Clara,” said Bridgeland following Saturday’s game.
Monday’s game against Santa Clara proved no different, however, as the Broncos came out on fire and never cooled off. The Broncos set a season-high with 12 3-pointers and shot 67 percent from the field to hold on from a second-half comeback by the Waves, 101-86.
Santa Clara point guard Brody Angley produced career highs with 24 points and 13 assists to lead the way for the Broncos, who lead by as many as 20 in the first half of play.
For the Waves, freshman forward Malcolm Thomas scored 16 points on a variety of high-flying dunks over Santa Clara center John Bryant. Freshman guard Mychel Thompson came off the bench and provided a spark, scoring 14 points in 26 minutes of action. Tucker, who was harassed by the crowd throughout the game, added 12 points and 7 assists.
Santa Clara came out with all cylinders firing and went into halftime with a comfortable 48-35 lead. The Waves came back in the second-half on the outside shooting of freshman forward Jon Reed and Thompson, and cut the lead to three with 10 minutes remaining.
Foul trouble came into play and sent the Broncos to the line early in the second half, where they capitalized and opened up their lead again. Shelley and Tucker fouled out late in the game.
However, the Waves held their heads high and Bridgeland took away some positives from the trip.
“Our team came into two hostile environments and quality opponents and were a few mistakes away from winning each game,” Bridgeland said. “We can play with anybody the way we played this weekend.”
Associate Vice Chancellor of Athletics Sam Lagana, who traveled with the team over the weekend, can’t wait until the team gets a chance at Loyola Marymount on Saturday at home.
“What this team has been through the last 80 hours has been rough,” said Lagana, referring to the resignation of Head Coach Vance Walberg. “The way the team came out and responded this weekend was amazing. I can’t wait for our game against LMU, and I hope the students will rally around this team and turn it into a positive season.”
Throughout the weekend the young Waves played with an emotion not seen so far this year. Finger-pointing turned to high-fives, with the new interim coach commanding the sidelines like a natural. With Jarrad Henry still injured, the Waves have only one senior and a total of four upperclassmen on the roster.
This weekend the Waves host the struggling Lions on Saturday night. LMU has 16 losses on the year and only managed 35 points against the Broncos on Saturday. They too are an extremely young team with only one senior on the roster.
01-24-2008
