SAN FRANCISCO – Santa Clara men's basketball had a fantastic start in the opening half, but faltered in the final moments as they dropped a heart-breaker to San Francisco on Saturday evening inside War Memorial Gymnasium. The Broncos led by four with 21 seconds remaining, but the Dons found a way to knock down five free throws inside the final 15 seconds, including the game-winner with just one second on the clock.
Already missing leading scorer
Adama-Alpha Bal due to a leg injury, the Broncos also lost starting point guard
Brenton Knapper early in the second half after suffering an injury. Shortly after, three more players were pulled from the contest after an altercation on the court resulted in both teams having three players ejected. For the Broncos, that was
Carlos Marshall, Jr.,
Christoph Tilly and
Jalen Benjamin.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- In a welcome change of pace, the Broncos found themselves on the right side of a big first half run. Santa Clara scored 22 unanswered and took a commanding 33-14 advantage with 7:06 to play in the half.
- San Francisco (20-6, 9-2) whittled away at the deficit for the remainder of the period, and closed the half on a 6-0 run to cut it down to 39-29 as the teams headed into the locker room.
- The Broncos shot 56 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range during the opening 20 minutes.
- The second half told a different story as San Francisco continued to chip away at the lead and cut it down to two with 6:53 to play.
- Santa Clara (15-10, 6-4) fired back with six unanswered to regain an eight-point advantage, and maintained a multi-score lead all the way until the Dons' Jonathan Mogbo scored five unanswered on his own to cut it back to two at 68-66 with 53 seconds to play.
- Jake Ensminger drew a foul and knocked down both free throws on the ensuing possession, however San Francisco drew a foul of their own and knocked down both of their tries to cut it right back to a two-point game. The Dons then forced a turnover on the inbounds play by the Broncos, drew a foul and went back to the free throw line with a chance to tie. Mogbo made just 1-of-2 of his attempts, but the Dons got the offensive rebound, drew another foul inside the last two seconds, and knocked down both freebies to take their first lead of the half.
- Santa Clara had one last shot with just over one second on the clock, and drew up a beautiful inbounds play that saw Ensminger connect with Francisco Caffaro inside the paint on the opposite end of the court. Caffaro shot a quick pass over to Tyeree Bryan, who put up the floating attempt at the buzzer, but unfortunately the ball hit the front iron and bounced away to seal the deal for the Broncos' fate as they fell 71-70.
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Ensminger made his first collegiate start and finished with a career-high 11 rebounds to go with 10 points for his first career double-double.
- Johnny O'Neil finished with a team-best 12 points while Bryan and Tilly finished with 11 each.
- The Broncos shot 52 percent for the game for their seventh game shooting 50 percent or better, and held the Dons to just 38 percent.
- Santa Clara also edged San Francisco in rebounds, 29-27.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos return home to host the Pacific Tigers on Thursday, Feb. 15, at 7:00 p.m. PT.
