LMU to face San Francisco or Portland Friday

The first game of the men's bracket has wrapped up, and Portland was able to hold off a winless Santa Clara team 74-70 to advance into Thursday's game against San Francisco. The Pilots shot an impressive 56.8 percent and were led by Ryan Nicholas (pictured) who had 24 points. Portland and San Francisco will face off at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by San Diego and Pepperdine at 8 p.m.

LMU will face the winner of the 6 p.m. game on Friday at 6 p.m.

The loss ends an awful season for Santa Clara, whose off-the-court troubles led to a 0-16 regular conference season. Before the season even began, Santa Clara lost big man Marc Trasolini to injury, a huge blow to the team's offense. Then, a couple of games into the WCC season, Kevin Foster, one of the best scorers in the league, was arrested for apparent drunk driving, and was therefore suspended by the team for the remainder of the season. Props to need to be given to the team that remained, however, as despite not winning a game, the Broncos did not roll over, and played a number of close games against some of the league's best teams.