PORTLAND – A game featuring two of the top three scoring offenses in the West Coast Conference was as advertised as Santa Clara outlasted Portland in a high-scoring 92-85 victory Tuesday evening inside the Chiles Center. The Broncos improved to 2-0 in conference play and are 11-4 overall.

Both teams shot north of 50 percent with Santa Clara connecting on 54 percent and the Pilots shooting 59 percent. Elijah Mahi notched his third-straight 20-point game, finishing with a game-high 22 points while Brenton Knapper turned in a season-best 16 points on 4-of-7 3-point shooting.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Broncos started the game red hot with a 5-for-5 start from the floor and an 11-0 lead. Bukky Oboye was responsible for the first six points all by way of dunks. Portland (7-8, 0-2) responded, however, and used an 8-0 run to tie the game at 20 with 10:05 remaining in the half.
• The Pilots grabbed the lead outright on a Joel Foxwell trey two possessions later and held a 30-27 advantage at the under eight media timeout. The lead changed hands six more times over the final 3:28, but Portland notched the final five points in the frame to take a 44-40 lead into the half.
• Both teams shot the ball well in the opening 20 minutes with Santa Clara hitting 52 percent and the Pilots converting on 61 percent. Allen Graves and Mahi led the way for the Broncos with eight points apiece.
• Portland pushed the lead up to eight in the early stages of the second half before the Broncos began to chip away at the deficit. Santa Clara worked it down to one possession multiple times, but the Pilots responded over and over to maintain the advantage. That is until a Knapper 3-ball with 9:44 remaining sparked a 10-0 Bronco run that finally swung the advantage back in their favor at 71-67.
• Santa Clara worked the lead up to six at 80-74 before another Portland run, this time 6-0, tied things back up with 3:21 remaining in the contest. The Pilots briefly took the lead before Mahi responded to give the Broncos the advantage right back at 84-83 with less than two minutes to play.
• Knapper then had one of the biggest plays of the night as he came away with a steal and drew a personal foul on his breakaway to the basket. The redshirt senior buried both free throws and Mahi scored on the ensuing possession to push the lead up to five at 88-83 with just over one minute to play. The Broncos buckled in defensively in that final minute and hit three of their final five free throw attempts in the final 39 seconds to put the game to rest.
• Santa Clara won the rebounding battle 28-25 with a 13-10 edge on the offensive glass. The Broncos were 10-for-27 from 3-point range and converted on 82 percent at the charity stripe (14-of-17).
• Pilot freshman Joel Foxwell had a double-double of 20 points and 15 assists to lead Portland in both categories.

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• Mahi has now scored 20 or more in each of the last three games, tying Hammond for the longest such streak for the season. The Toronto native extended his double figure scoring streak to nine and leads the team with 13 such games on the season.
• Knapper hit a season-high four treys as part of his season-high 16-point outing. He also came away with a team-best three steals.
• Thierry Darlan scored 14 points for the second consecutive game, giving him four double figure scoring outings for the season.
• Hammond returned to double figure scoring himself with 14 points to go with five assists and a pair of steals. The sophomore has scored 10 or more in 12 games this season.
• Graves pulled down 10 rebounds for his fourth game with 10 or more and was just one point shy of turning in his second-career double-double.
• Jake Ensminger filled the stat sheet yet again with eight points, five rebounds and three assists against zero turnovers.
• Santa Clara has now connected on 10 or more treys 10 times and have done so in each of the last three games.
• The Broncos also notched their seventh game with 10 or more steals, finishing with 10, and dished out 21 assists for their seventh game with 20 or more.
• Santa Clara is now 76-34 all-time against Portland and have won 18 of the last 19 meetings.

POSTGAME COMMENTS:
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NEXT UP:
The Broncos will open 2026 with back-to-back home games inside the Leavey Center beginning Friday, Jan. 2, against Pepperdine. Tip is set for 7:00 p.m. PT.