GAME PREVIEW

vs. Northern Arizona, March 15, CollegeInsider.com tournament first round

KEY MATCHUPS
The matchup between shooting guards -- Santa Clara's Kevin Foster and Northern Arizona's Cameron Jones -- puts the teams' two stars on a collision course. However, Foster may not guard Jones, because Kerry Keating may prefer to have F Troy Payne defend Jones. Payne is the team's best defender, and he has had some success shutting down high-scoring players before. The other key is at point guard, where Santa Clara freshman Evan Roquemore will go against Northern Arizona sophomore Stallon Saldivar. Roquemore leads the Broncos in 3-point shooting percentage (41.1 percent), and if can get his points while minimizing his turnovers, the Broncos would be in good shape.

SCOUTING REPORT
Santa Clara relies heavily on getting Kevin Foster opportunities to shoot 3-pointers. When he starts out hot, Santa Clara is difficult to stop. Evan Roquemore is actually the team's most accurate 3-point shooter, making 41.1 percent of his shots from behind the arc, and when he is playing confidently, he takes a lot of pressure off Foster. Marc Trasolini is the Broncos' third offensive threat, and although he is a 6-foot-9 forward and can score in the paint, he does a lot of his scoring from the perimeter. He has a nice touch for a big man. The inside muscle is supplied by Ben Dowdell, who lacks skill but provides a physical presence that helps energize the team. Defensively, the Broncos rely on straight man-to-man defense, with Troy Payne typically guarding the opponent's best offensive player.

PLAYER NOTES

--Sophomore G Kevin Foster was named WCC player of the month for February, and he was also named to the first team of the NABC all-District 9 team. He was one of three WCC players on the first team.

--Freshman G Evan Roquemore has been more productive offensively lately, scoring above his average (11.6 pgg) in each of the last seven games through March 13. Perhaps because of that aggressiveness, his assist-to-turnover ratio has suffered. He'd had more turnovers than assists in each of his last three games.

--Senior F Ben Dowdell had not been as productive since collecting 26 points and 14 rebounds on Feb. 24 against Loyola Marymount in the best game of his career. Since then, he had averaged 5.7 points and 4.0 rebounds in the three games heading into the March 15 game against Northern Arizona.

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