LAS VEGAS - Herb Sendek did not say it. The Santa Clara men’s basketball head coach would never put the cart in front of the horse and suggest his team has done enough already to be included in the NCAA Tournament field for the first time in 30 years.
But after the Broncos beat Pacific 76-68 in the quarterfinals of the Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Men’s Basketball Championship on Sunday night, Tigers head coach Dave Smart said it.
“They’re an NCAA Tournament team and it shows,” Smart suggested. “I think they are in and I think they should be in and I think they’re going to be a scary opponent for whoever they play.”
The Broncos (25-7), without a defeat all year to a conference opponent other than regular-season champion Gonzaga (28-3) and Monday’s semifinal opponent, No. 2 seed and co-regular season champion Saint Mary’s (27-4), have an impressive resume. But the reality is Santa Clara won’t take its foot off the pedal at this stage in the process.
The Broncos and Gaels will square off at 8:30 p.m. at Orleans Arena, the rubber match after they split two regular-season games. At stake is a spot in Tuesday night’s championship game, where the conference automatic NCAA bid will be determined.
Asked if the Saint Mary’s game and all that comes with it is nerve-wracking or fun, Sendek said, “We don’t have the luxury of going into those kind of rooms. Our focus has to be on the things we can control, our preparation and our recovery.
“Just have the mindset this group has always had. They’re very much a present-moment, here-and-now team. When you’re in the arena you just don’t have the luxury of entertaining a lot of outside emotions or commentary.”
One of the sport’s premier NCAA Tournament commentators, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, had the Broncos included as a No. 11 seed in his projected field even before their win over Pacific. At-large bids to non-champions will be revealed on Selection Sunday.
The Broncos did their part Sunday night. They hit 13 of their first 24 attempts from 3-point range and held off Pacific (18-15) over a frantic final five minutes.
When Chris Hammond, Elijah Mahi, Sash Gavalyugov and Allen Graves made consecutive 3’s in a span of 1 minute, 52 seconds, the Broncos led 62-48 with 14 minutes left.
The Tigers kept coming. "That’s a good basketball team we just played,” Sendek said. “They’re a reflection of how good our league is. We had to offset a spectacular performance by Elias Ralph. Give Pacific credit — they had a hell of a year.”
Ralph scored 25 points, including five 3-pointers, for the Tigers. The Broncos countered with 19 points by Graves, 14 by Hammond, 13 points and 11 rebounds by Mahi and 11 points by Gavalyugov.
“We knew they had the capability of shooting like that,” Pacific point guard Jaden Clayton said. “When guys start to get hot, our biggest thing is to get them off the (3-point) line. I just don’t think we did that.”
Seven different players contributed to Santa Clara finishing 15 for 36 from deep, just one shy of their season high for 3-point baskets.
BRONCOS & GAELS TO MEET AGAIN: Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s split their two meetings this season, but Sendek said Monday’s rematch will have a life of its own.
“Every game is its complete and own story. The third game is going to be independent of the first two,” he said. “The game is going to have things none of us can predict right now.”
The Gaels won 86-67 in Moraga two weeks ago, thanks in part to a 49-19 rebounding margin. “Saint Mary’s is one of the elite rebounding teams in the country,” said Sendek, referring to the Gaels’ No. 5 national ranking in rebound margin. “From our standpoint, obviously, that can’t happen again.”
TIGERS TAKE A BIG LEAP: Smart, in his second season as Pacific head coach, praised his players for assembling the program’s winningest season in six years.
“You start the year expecting to get better. That was the goal and we did,” he said. “We won a lot of games compared to last year and compared to where the program’s been in the past.”
Smart credited the leadership of Ralph and Clayton, but said even scout team players competed in practice at a level that raised the bar for everyone. A legendary coach in Canada, Smart convinced Ralph to cross the border and see what life is like in Division I.
“I’m so thankful . . . I didn’t know what was going to happen. Coach Smart just trusted me right away with the ball, let me make mistakes,” said Ralph, who averaged 16.7 points and earned first-team all-conference honors. “Seeing that I can kind of play at this level has given me more confidence to go beyond.”
BEAVERS TAME EMOTIONS TO ADVANCE: No. 4 seed Oregon State’s players extended Wayne Tinkle’s coaching run by at least one day, but they had to overcome an emotional week and a wretched start. Ultimately, the Beavers (17-15) dealt with both and took away a 78-77 victory over San Francisco in the early quarterfinal game.
Tinkle, in his 12th season at OSU and 20th year as a Division I head coach, was informed 10 days earlier he would not return next season. He worried his players might be distracted by things.
When USF (17-16) scored the game’s first 11 points, Tinkle’s worries appeared founded. But his players responded.
“We tried really hard to make it about us, the team,” said Tinkle, who takes a 178-205 record with the Beavers into Monday’s semifinal against co-regular-season champion and top-seeded Gonzaga (28-3). Tipoff is 6:00 p.m.
“The assistant coaches did a great job of saying, `Fellas when you win in your conference tournament and build momentum, some magical things will happen. It erases whatever frustration you might have had. And what a great deal it is this time of year,’ “ Tinkle said. “Our guys really bought into that.”
But it took a few minutes. “The first half we couldn’t hit our (butts) with either hand,” Tinkle said. “But in the timeouts we weren’t panicking.”
OSU fought back to trail just 32-30 by halftime and got 18 points apiece from Josiah Lake II and Dez White to claim the victory. White said he and his teammates tried their best to make it business as usual.
“We just stuck to the principles that he’s been preaching all year,” White said. “We’re fighting for him, but we’re also fighting for the Beaver pride that he puts on display every day.”
WHITE’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN: White missed the Beavers’ three most recent games after injuring his shoulder. But he was back for this one, coming off the bench to hit six of his first seven 3-point attempts.
“It felt great to get back out with my brothers and the coaching staff,” he said. “I started feeling better when I got in some contact practices this week. Having the confidence that knowing I’m going to get hit and my shoulder would deal with it.”
He wasn’t the only Beaver who connected from deep. Yaak Yaak, a 6-foot-11 junior from Australia, had made just one 3-pointer all season before knocking one down with 4:41 left to give OSU a 66-63 lead it would not relinquish.
“We got mad at Yaak in the first half. He was wide open at the top of the key and he didn’t even look at the rim,” Tinkle said. “Yaak can shoot the ball. it was no surprise. We told him, Yaak, you’re open, you’ve got to take it.’ ”
DISAPPOINTED DONS: USF had posted 20-win seasons in eight of the previous nine years, including in each coach Chris Gerlufsen’s first three seasons. This year did not meet the Dons’ recent standard.
“We haven’t been in this situation. To some people 17-16 isn’t the end of the world. To me, it’s not good enough,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success and we had high expectations for this year. We had a lot of weird stuff happen throughout the year.
“There will be a lot of self-reflection within our program and it starts with me. We’re going to learn a lot from this year and respond the right way. I can certainly tell you we’ll be in a much better position at this time next year.”