SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Dominance on the glass and a strong second-half showing carried the Santa Clara University men's basketball team past LMU Thursday, 76-61, in a West Coast Conference rematch at Leavey Center. Four Broncos scored in double figures led by
Carlos Stewart Jr. with 16 points, and
Camaron Tongue, who had his fourth game in the last five in double figures with 14. The win marked the Broncos 10th conference victory for the fourth straight season, breaking the record for the most in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Broncos (18-10, 10-5 WCC) pulled down their third-most rebounds of the year, 48, while out-rebounding the Lions (15-13, 7-9 WCC) by 21. That included a 17-4 advantage on the offensive boards, which led to 18 second-chance points for Santa Clara.
Jake Ensminger grabbed a career-high 13 boards and five other Broncos had at least five rebounds. Santa Clara had four double-digit scorers, led by
Carlos Stewart Jr. with 16 points, all in the first half.
Camaron Tongue scored 14, including 12 in the second half,
Brenton Knapper poured in 12 points, and
Elijah Mahi chipped in 10 – all in the second half.
LMU was led by Will Johnston with a game-high 18 points. Rick Issanza led the Lions with seven rebounds, and three different Lions had three assists each to guide the offense.
Stewart Jr. caught fire early, surpassing his season average of 11.9 points per game in the game's first six minutes. Stewart Jr. poured in 14 points, including three 3-pointers and a set of three free throws after being fouled on another attempt from deep. He'd finish the first half with 16 points on near-perfect shooting (5 for 6).
A 10-2 run six minutes into the game gave the Broncos their first double-digit lead at 19-9. More treys later from Knapper and Ensminger pushed the lead back to 10 and 12, respectively.
Tyeree Bryan hit two 3-pointers and
Johnny O'Neil threw down an emphatic dunk coming out of halftime and the Broncos had their largest lead of the game at 43-29. But LMU wasn't going to let Santa Clara get away that easy. The Lions responded with a 10-0 run to pull within four, the closest they'd been since just over six minutes after tipoff. Santa Clara went cold during the run, missing eight consecutive shots, five of them from 3-point range.
LMU's scoring spree ended as fast as it started, though, as it missed its next seven shots in a row, allowing Santa Clara to slowly build its lead back to double digits. An 11-2 run spurred by an and-one three-point play from Tongue put SCU up by 13 with 10 minutes to play. The Broncos' lead would grow to as much as 15 before the final buzzer sounded.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
10: The Broncos won their 10th conference game for the fourth straight season, which breaks the record for the most in program history.
10: The Broncos hit 10 3 pointers for the 18th time this season, improving 15-3 when reaching that mark.
13: Jake Ensminger pulled down a career high with 13 rebounds tonight, surpassing his previous best of 11 against Fresno State (12/7) and TCU (11/28).
14: Thursday's win was Santa Clara's 14th win this season when leading at halftime. The Broncos' record is now 14-3 when leading after 20 minutes of play.
21: Santa Clara out-rebounded LMU by 21, giving them a 10-0 record when out-rebounding an opponent by 10 or more.
150: Johnny O'Neil came down with one block tonight, surpassing the 150 block career milestone.
POSTGAME COMMENTS
COMING UP
The Broncos head north to Washington on Saturday to face Washington State for a 3 p.m. tipoff in Pullman. Following that, they'll host Gonzaga at 8 p.m. Tuesday for the teams' second meeting of the season.
