SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After a back-and-forth opening half that featured eight lead changes and six ties, Santa Clara men's basketball flipped a switch in the second half to run away from Pacific for an 85-69 victory on Wednesday evening to remain undefeated inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos outscored the Tigers 41-27 in the final 20 minutes and used a massive 24-6 run to take control of the contest.

Three Broncos scored 15 or more points with Christian Hammond logging a game-high 18 points, Allen Graves totaling 17 and Elijah Mahi pouring in 15.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Pacific (12-8, 3-4) took advantage of a sluggish offensive start from the Broncos by building an early nine-point advantage in less than five minutes. Santa Clara (15-5, 6-1) settled in and began to chip away at the deficit, quickly working it down to one at 16-15 thanks to a 7-0 spurt.
• The Tigers maintained control and pushed their lead back up to six with 9:12 remaining in the half before SCU used another quick 6-0 scoring spree punctuated by a Hammond floater to tie things up at 30 with 7:33 remaining.
• The Broncos grabbed their first lead since the opening moments of the game on Hammond trey with 5:31 remaining. Pacific quickly snatched the lead right back and held a 42-39 lead before Mahi closed the half with five unanswered on his own, including a conventional trey with 23 seconds remaining, to send SCU to the locker room with a 44-42 halftime lead.
• Both teams shot north of 50 percent in the opening 20 minutes with Pacific converting on 56 percent and the Broncos knocking down an even 50 (14-of-28). Hammond and Mahi had 14 and 11 points, respectively, in the frame to lead all scorers.
• Pacific took their last lead of the night at 47-46 with 17:17 remaining in the contest before Hammond hit a jumper to spark a monster 18-3 run that saw the Broncos grab control of the lead for good at 64-50 with 9:53 remaining. The Tigers countered with a trey, but SCU knocked down back-to-back triples of their own to complete the 24-6 spree for a 17-point advantage at 70-53.
• Pacific worked the lead down to 12 with just over five minutes remaining, but yet another Bronco run, this time to the tune of 11-2, gave SCU their largest lead of the night at 21 with less than two minutes to play to officially put the game on ice.
• Santa Clara shot 48 percent from the field while Pacific converted on 50 percent. The Tigers also shot 50 percent from beyond the arc (11-of-22) and were plus-10 on the boards (34-24). 
• A key area where the Broncos excelled was in the turnover battle. Santa Clara forced 21, their second-highest total of the year, leading to 28 points while committing just seven themselves.

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• Graves had yet another outstanding night off the bench, knocking down 7-of-14 field goals, including a season-high three 3-pointers, for his third-consecutive game with 15 or more points. The Ponchatoula, La., native also tallied a team-high eight rebounds, had three blocks and three steals while not committing a turnover himself.
• Hammond finished 7-for-10 from the field for 18 points as he reached double figure scoring for the 16^th time this season. It was his 11^th game with 15 or more points.
• Mahi also logged his 16^th game in double figure scoring, tied with Hammond for tops on the team. The Toronto product also excelled on the boards with seven rebounds and was 6-of-7 at the charity stripe.
• Santa Clara is 10-0 inside the Leavey Center this season. It is their longest home win streak since winning 17-straight in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
• SCU improved to 12-0 when scoring 80 or more points.
• The Broncos turned in their 13^th game with 10 or more 3-pointers, finishing 10-of-27.
• The win was Santa Clara's fifth-consecutive over the Tigers and they improve to 109-47 in the all-time series.
• Santa Clara was out-rebounded for just the third time this season.

POSTGAME COMMENTS:
NEXT UP:
Santa Clara will host rival Saint Mary's on Saturday, Jan. 17, at 4:00 p.m. PT. The game will stream live on ESPN+.