By Jeff Faraudo
#WCChoops columnist | ARCHIVES
 
Santa Clara played all but 10 minutes Thursday night without foul-plagued Josip Vrankic, the Broncos’ first-team All-West Coast Conference senior forward.
 
But on a night when they got the very best from underdog Portland, others came through for the Broncos in their 95-86 first-round victory in the University Credit Union WCC Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
 
No one delivered a more clutch performance than Keshawn Justice, who had missed the previous four games after suffering a concussion in practice. The junior forward responded with 22 points, including 5-for-8 shooting from the 3-point line.
 
Then there was sophomore Jalen Williams, who scored 21 points. Christian Carlyle and Willie Caruso each tossed in 14 points. And DJ Mitchell scored 12 after coming off a hamstring injury.
 
That’s how the Broncos (11-7) survived on a night when Vrankic scored just four points before fouling out.
 
“That’s been our team. The way we have a chance is to be a true team,” said coach Herb Sendek, whose team had 17 games postponed or canceled due to COVID-19 issues. “With different guys having been out for different reasons throughout the season, guys have had to adjust and play different positions and pull together.”
 
The seventh-seeded Broncos will need more of the same — plus a more typical outing from Vrankic — when they face No. 6 Pacific on Friday at 9 p.m. The Tigers beat Santa Clara by 21 points in their only meeting and Sendek expects a battle.
 
“We’re going to have to play a great all-around team,” he said. "They’re really a good team and they put it on us the first time, for sure.”
 
Said Justice of Friday's plan: “Just play with intensity and effort. They’re going to be ready to go so we’ve got to be ready to go.”
 
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Justice said his teammates welcomed him back and gave him support and encouragement in his return. “I know my team’s been missing me these last few weeks,” he said. “They got me going early and they just trust me to make plays and that’s what I did tonight.”
 
Sendek said Justice was key for the Broncos, especially given the Vrankic was barely on the floor.
 
“He’s such an important player for us,” Sendek said. “Thank goodness we got him back for tonight and the tournament, I thought he was just tremendous especially when you consider over the last weeks he’s had very few practices.”
 
PRAISING PORTLAND: Pilots interim coach Ben Johnson thanked his club for their effort after flirting with what would have been a monumental upset. Portland (6-15) led by as many as eight points in the first half, trailed just 46-45 at the break and was within four points with barely 3 minutes left.
 
This is a team that was winless in the WCC this season and had won just once in its previous 52 games against conference opponents. Yet, the Pilots shot 52 percent from the field, including 12 for 22 from the 3-point arc.
 
Senior Ahmed Ali had 21 points and five rebounds, but three others scored in double digits and six different Pilots made 3-point baskets.
 
“They were a really, really good team tonight. They played really well. They could have beat a lot of people tonight. They could have beat us,” Sendek said. “Our guys were resilient and hung in there and found a way to win. But I can’t say enough great things about the effort that coach Ben and the staff and Portland gave tonight. We had more than hands full. Those guys were really good tonight.”
 
STAT OF THE GAME: Santa Clara was the WCC’s worst 3-point shooting team this season at 29.8 percent, but the Broncos shot 10 for 21 from beyond the arc, converting 47.6 percent. It was the second-most threes they’ve made in a game all season.
 
QUOTE OF THE GAME: “We came here to Vegas and we didn’t want to go home on the first night. We started off hot and from then on we were playing hard. Throughout the whole game I thought we were going to win.” — Portland junior forward Eddie Davis, who scored 18 points.