SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball suffered their first setback in WCC play, falling to Saint Mary's 73-49. The loss drops the Broncos to 3-1 in WCC play and 12-7 overall.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Broncos ran into a buzz saw in the first half as the Gaels (13-6, 4-0) played just about as well as they could have hoped, jumping out to a 9-0 lead and using a 19-0 run to grab a 30-8 lead with under eight minutes to go in the half. On the other end, Santa Clara was frustrated possession after possession by the stout Gael Defense as they were limited to just 29 percent shooting and 18 points.
- Saint Mary's led 47-18 when the dust settled on the first half.
- Santa Clara improved across the board in the second half, shooting 45.8 percent outscoring the Gaels, 31-26, however the large first half deficit prevented the Broncos to get any closer than 23 points away.
- Saint Mary's shot 48 percent and held Santa Clara to just 38 percent. They also pulled down 38 rebounds to the Broncos' 27 and dished out 18 assists to Santa Clara's nine.
- Another big factor was the amount of turnovers - or for Saint Mary's the lack of them. The Gaels did not commit one for the entirety of the first half and didn't cough the ball up and finished with just seven for the game. Santa Clara did the opposite, committing eight first-half turnovers and finishing with 13 for the night.
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Christoph Tilly finished with 11 points to tally his seventh double figure scoring game of the season. He was the lone Bronco to score 10 or more. Johnny O'Neil chipped in seven to go with four rebounds and a pair of steals.
- The duo of Adama-Alpha Bal and Carlos Marshall, Jr. were held in check to combine for five points.
- Saint Mary's has now won the last four games against the Broncos.
POSTGAME INTERVIEW:
NEXT UP:
The Broncos will make the short drive to Stockton to take on Pacific on Thursday, Jan. 18.
