LAS VEGAS - They say that the third time is the charm, and Santa Clara men's basketball certainly hopes that rings true tomorrow night in the semifinal round of the 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Basketball Championship. The Broncos will take on the top-seeded Gaels of Saint Mary's for the third time this season with a trip to Tuesday's championship game on the line. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN with Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham on the call. Fans can also catch the audio only call from Anthony Passarelli and Henry Caruso on Sidearm (link above).
The fourth-seeded Broncos punched their ticket to Monday's semifinals with a dominating 104-79 victory over five-seed San Diego on Saturday evening. It is the most points Santa Clara has ever scored in the WCC Tournament and was their third 100 point game of the season. Six players scored at least 11 points in the victory with Adama-Alpha Bal (24) and Johnny O'Neil (20) combing for 44 points to lead the charge. Just as impressive as the final score tally was the Broncos' rebounding numbers - a 55-25 advantage (plus-30 margin). It was Santa Clara's fourth 50-rebound performance of the season, second-highest total of the year and just three shy of their WCC Tournament record.
Rebounding is something the Broncos will need to continue to do well in order to have success against the No. 21/23 Gaels. The teams are the top two rebounding squads in the conference in terms of total boards per game (Santa Clara - 39.8, Saint Mary's - 39.7) and rank in the top 20 in rebound margin (Saint Mary's - 1st at 11.7, Santa Clara 17th at 7.6).
As mentioned above, this will be the third meeting between the Bay Area rivals this season. Saint Mary's won the first time 73-49 in Santa Clara, but the Broncos gave the Gaels all they could handle in Moraga. Trailing by 25 early in the second half, Santa Clara outscored Saint Mary's 55-38 in the second half to whittle the deficit to as little as four inside the final 20 seconds.
This will be the second time in the last three seasons that the Broncos and Gaels have met in the WCC Tournament semifinals. The last meeting was in 2022 in an instant classic that saw Saint Mary's escape with a 75-72 victory after Jalen Williams' last second halfcourt heave bounced off the rim.
Tickets for the 2024 Credit Union 1 WCC Men's Basketball Championship are available now in the link above.
For more information, check the game notes links above.
