SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball improved to 3-0 in conference play on Friday evening, taking down Pepperdine 82-63 inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos shot 53.3 percent in the final 20 minutes and led by as much as 21 points in the winning effort.
Christian Hammond led the way on the stat sheet with his sixth 20-point game of the season, finishing with 20 points to go with six rebounds while
Elijah Mahi and
Bukky Oboye tallied 15 and 13 points, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The Broncos (12-4) knocked down seven first-half 3-pointers and shot 46 percent as a whole while Pepperdine (5-11, 0-3) converted on 44 percent from the field. The Waves led by three at 32-29 with 5:32 remaining in the period before Bukky Oboye swatted a shot the resulted in a Christian Hammond layup on the fastbreak, sparking a 13-3 Bronco run that would close the half with home team on top 42-35. Oboye was responsible for two blocks and four points during the spree.
- Hammond put the finishing touches on the run by scoring in the paint at the buzzer. The sophomore finished with eight points in the opening 20 minutes while Jake Ensminger also logged eight points thanks to a 2-for-2 start from beyond the arc.
- Santa Clara scored the first three buckets of the second half to extend the lead to 12 at 48-36. The Waves worked the deficit down to six at 51-47, but a 6-0 Bronco run pushed the advantage right back up to 10 at the under-12 timeout.
- The lead grew to as much as 21 at 72-51 thanks to another Bronco run, this time to the tune of 13-0.
- The Broncos finished just shy of their third-consecutive outing shooting 50 percent or better, tallying a 49.3 percent clip (33-of-67) while limiting Pepperdine to just 38.9 percent (21-of-54)
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Hammond notched his 13th game in double figure scoring and also logged six rebounds to go with two steals, two assists and a block
- Mahi extended his double figure scoring streak to 10 straight and leads the team with 14 such games on the season. The Toronto native logged 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting and had three assists.
- Oboye did a little bit of everything in the victory, tallying 13 points – his seventh with 10 or more this season – to go with a team-high seven rebounds, three blocks and a career-best three steals.
- Brenton Knapper finished a point shy of his third-straight game in double figure scoring, finishing with nine points to go with three assists while Ensminger finished with eight points, and five rebounds.
- Thierry Darlan grabbed five rebounds to go with seven points and a pair of steals while Allen Graves added to his team-high steal count with three takeaways to bring his season total to 32.
- The Broncos came away with season-high 15 steals, their third-consecutive game with 10 or more and eighth such game of the season.
- Santa Clara improved to 7-0 inside the Leavey Center this season and are 3-0 in WCC play for the third time in the last three seasons.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS:
HIGHLIGHTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos will stay in Leavey for a Sunday evening showdown against San Diego on Jan. 4
th. The game will begin at 4:00 p.m. PT and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
