Trinity Western Shocks NCAA Opponent, Santa Clara
FOLLOW TREVOR PRIDIE ON TWITTER @LOVEOFTHEGAME10 & NPH @NORTHPOLEHOOPS
Toronto Native Julian Clarke (Santa Clara) drive against TWU defense
Photo Courtesy: Ron Hole
TOP PERFORMERS
Calvin Westbrook– 32 Points, 12/23 FG
Kyle Coston – 29 Points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals
Tristan Smith– 10 Points, 8 Assists
Sean Peter- 17 Points, 6 Rebounds
LANGLEY,BC–The Trinity Western Spartans bounce back from two dissapointing loses to NCAA Div. 1 teams in Ball State and Texas Arlington, and shock Santa Clara in overtime 108-100 to get their first preseason win.
Santa Clara; who are very well known in British Columbia because of their most famous alumnus in Steve Nash, and thier current fourth year star in Marc Trasolini tipped off their Canada tour with a very upsetting start.
Not only did Santa Clara lose the game in overtime, but they lost Trasolini early in the game with what appeared to be a leg injury. Trasolini who played his highschool basketball at Vancouver College left the game within the first two minutes and only attempted one shot. The severity of his injury is unknown but he was walking on his leg without assistance – a good sign.
The Spartans were led by the explosive scoring of Calvin Westbrook and Kyle Coston, the duo combined for 61pts; 32 points for Westbrook and 29 for Coston who also tied a game high with 14 rebounds. Trinity also received great contributions from Tristan Smith who had 10 points to go along with a game-high 8 assists, and Sean Peter who registered 17 points shooting 7/11 from the field and having the task on the defensive end of guarding one of the NCAA’s best three point shooters in Kevin Foster.
The Santa Clara Broncos were led by dynamic scoring guard Kevin Foster who had 23 points and 11 rebounds. Foster averaged 20.7 ppg last season and made a nation leading 140 three pointers for the Broncos. Although Foster posted 23 points, the Spartans defensive stopper Sean Peter made him work for it all night, Foster shot 7/24 from the field and had 8 turnovers.
Three Bronco players had double-doubles, they were Niyi Harrison (17 points, 11 rebounds), John McArthur (12 points, 14 rebounds) Foster (23 points, 11 rebounds).
The game was intense and physical all night with both teams staying close throughout the game; the biggest lead had the Spartans up 11 in the second quarter.
Being a back and forth game all night, it was evident that fans were set up for a great finish. The fourth quarter was when Kyle Coston came to life and went on a scoring flurry which included three long range bombs and a dunk all within a five minute span. Despite Costons fourth quarter heroics, the show was stolen by Kevin Foster who hit two three pointers in the final 10 seconds to send the game into overtime.
In extra time, TWU came out very aggressive drawing first blood and they didnt look back as they led the whole overtime and out scored the Broncos 17-9.
The game was very even on the scoreboard and in most of the statistical categories. The two biggest statistical advantages for the Spartans were freethrows and three point shooting; they shot 29/38 (76%) from the freethrow line as opposed to the Broncos who only shot 14/24 (58%) from the line.
TWU also had hot shooting from behind the arc as they shot 11/29 (38%) from deep and were led by the accurate shooting duo of Westbrook and Coston who combined 9/18 for the game.
Santa Clara shot 12/42 (28%) from three for the game and were led by Foster who went 5/17 from deep. The biggest statistical advantage for the Broncos was on the glass where they outrebounded the Spartans by ten 59-49.
Santa Clara continues their B.C. tour at UBC Thursday then UFV Friday and back at UBC on Saturday to wrap the trip up.
