Santa Clara’s Bryant stands out in win over San Diego

By Brett Okamoto (contact)

Saturday, March 7, 2009 | 10:15 p.m.

Santa Clara center John Bryant, the 2009 West Coast Conference Player of the Year, wasted no time making himself at home on the Orleans Arena Saturday night. The senior grabbed 27 rebounds, a WCC Tournament record, in a second round 80-69 win over San Diego.

It was the most rebounds by any player in a Division-I game this season and shattered the former tournament record of 20, set by Darryl Johnson of San Francisco in 1992.

“It’s win or go home, tournament atmosphere,” Bryant said. “As a senior, I don’t want my season to end. I wanted to go out there and do what we needed to win and that was rebound. I went out with mindset to get every board.”

The 6-foot-11 Bryant, who entered the conference tournament as the No. 2 rebounder in the country, added a team-high 24 points for his 25th double-double of the year. Freshmen Kevin Foster and Marc Trasolini also scored in double figures, finishing with 21 and 18, respectively.

Santa Clara dominated the game from start to finish, building their lead to as high as 20 in the second half and never trailing once. The Toreros’ only resemblance of a fight came during a 11-2 run shortly after halftime that the Broncos quickly erased with a 8-0 answer.

Sophomore Rob Jones led the Toreros with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Roberto Mafra added 13 points and five boards.

The game was a break from the usual nail-biters the teams have played in the past, as the last four games have been decided by just 14 points combined.

“We’ve played them so close the last four times, just grinder, close games that came down to the last possession or two,” said San Diego coach Bill Grier. “Tonight they just came out with better energy to start the game and we let them get comfortable early on the offensive end.”

The No. 5 Broncos will advance to the conference semifinals to face top-seeded Gonzaga at 6:30 p.m. Sunday. The two teams last played each other Feb. 26 with Gonzaga winning 81-73. The Bulldogs benefited from two technical fouls on the Broncos home crowd, due to objects being thrown onto the court.

“We did a good job in the last game, I thought,” said Santa Clara coach Kerry Keating. “The circumstances that were given to Gonzaga won’t happen again. That’s one thing I can definitely tell my players, I guarantee you nothing’s going to happen like what happened [that game] that we can’t control. Everything’s that’s going to happen we can control.”