The Final Four gets underway Saturday, but one of the smaller dances came to an end Friday night.
Santa Clara won Game 3 of its three-game series against George Mason, 80-77, to win the CBI championship at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va.
Senior Kevin Foster, who has been an offensive force for Santa Clara all season, led the way with 24 points on 8-of-19 shooting, while Marc Trasolini added 20 points and Evan Roquemore had 19.
Those three accounted for nearly 78 percent of the team’s offensive production on Friday for a team that shot an even 50 percent from the floor. Santa Clara overcame a massive -16 rebounding margin to win, mostly by shooting the percentage that they did and forcing 16 turnovers.
The win now officially ends the season for every member of the WCC. In all, four WCC teams saw time in the postseason with varying levels of success. No. 1 Gonzaga lost to Wichita State in the Round of 32 of the NCAA tournament. Saint Mary’s won its First Four game in the same tournament, but was defeated by Memphis in the Round of 64.
BYU was able to make a run to New York City in the NIT, but fell to eventual champion Baylor. And now Santa Clara takes home the CBI championship.
Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_
