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Broncos win it up front

Portland's Darren Cooper falls after slipping in the key while driving between Santa Clara's Calvan Johnson, left, and Mitch Henke. (Joe Barrentine Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
By Steve Bergum steveb@spokesman.com
Portland's Darren Cooper falls after slipping in the key while driving between Santa Clara's Calvan Johnson, left, and Mitch Henke. (Joe Barrentine Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Santa Clara used the front-line scoring of Travis Niesen, Mitch Henke and Sean Denison to offset another big night by Portland’s Pooh Jeter and turn back the Pilots 72-68 in Friday’s opening round of the West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Niesen threw in a team-high 19 points and Henke and Denison combined for 21 more as the sixth-seeded Broncos (13-15) earned a berth opposite third-seeded Saint Mary’s (16-11) in tonight’s second quarterfinal game.

Sophomore guard Brodey Angley added 17 points and five assists for Santa Clara, which briefly broke open a tight game late in the second half, only to suffer a bit of a stretch-run meltdown that let the Pilots (11-18), who got 26 points from Jeter, hang around until the end.

The Bronco scored 11 unanswered points to take a 60-51 lead with just less than 4 minutes remaining. But shortly after Domineek Daniel blew an uncontested baseline dunk, Niesen was called for a dead-ball technical foul following an under-the-basket scrum with Portland’s Alex Tiefenthaler.

Jeter made both free throws and teammate Darren Cooper then hit a shot from the right wing to cut SCU’s lead to 60-57. But the Broncos steadied themselves in the final 2 minutes

“We made a couple of mistakes late in the game as far as decision making,” admitted Broncos coach Dick Davey. “But other than that, we played pretty hard, and I’m just happy escaped.”

Santa Clara 72, Portland 68

Portland (11-18) – Wilson 6-10 0-2 13, Tiefenthaler 2-6 0-1 5, Field 0-1 0-0 0, Cooper 2-10 5-6 10, Jeter 7-16 10-10 26, Dominguez 2-6 0-0 6, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 1-5 0-0 2, Sullivan 2-5 0-0 6. Totals 22-59 15-19 68.

Santa Clara (13-15) – Henke 3-9 4-5 11, Niesen 7-12 4-7 19, Denison 4-5 2-2 10, Angley 4-9 8-8 17, Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, Rohe 0-0 1-2 1, Kaempf 1-2 1-2 4, Daniel 0-2 2-2 2, Bryant 2-4 4-4 8. Totals 21-47 26-32 72.

Halftime—Portland 33-32. 3-Point Goals—Portland 9-20 (Sullivan 2-2, Dominguez 2-5, Jeter 2-7, Tiefenthaler 1-1, Wilson 1-2, Cooper 1-3), Santa Clara 4-12 (Niesen 1-1, Kaempf 1-1, Henke 1-2, Angley 1-4, Johnson 0-4). Fouled Out—Field. Rebounds—Portland 37 (Field, Jones 7), Santa Clara 36 (Niesen 8). Assists—Portland 12 (Cooper, Wilson 3), Santa Clara 15 (Angley 5). Total Fouls—Portland 22, Santa Clara 22. A—4,053.