SANTA CLARA, Calif. - In a battle of undefeated preseason conference favorites, Santa Clara held on for a key 90-85 victory over New Mexico inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos led by as much as 23 in the game before the Lobos stormed back to take a late one-point advantage. Graduate student
Jake Ensminger gave SCU the lead for good on a 3-pointer from the top of the key and the Broncos closed the door with late free throws to improve to 5-0 on the season.
Elijah Mahi led the charge for Santa Clara, knocking down a career high-tying six treys and posting 26 points to help carry the Broncos to the win.
Sash Gavalyugov added a season-high 19 points while
Fedor Zugic chipped in a season-best 15 and
Brad Longcor III added 12 points.
The Broncos relied on the the 3-ball early and often, finishing with 17 treys for the evening - tied for the fourth-most in program history. Santa Clara was sensational from distance in the opening half, knocking down 12-of-18 attempts in the first 20 minutes led by a 5-for-5 start from distance by Mahi. The Broncos built as much of a 23-point lead in the half behind the 3-point barrage and took a 51-33 lead into the locker room.
SCU continued to rely on the 3-ball in the second half, knocking down their first attempt courtesy of Zugic in the corner on their opening possession, however New Mexico (3-1) rallied with a 12-0 run to cut the Bronco lead down to 12 at 56-44 at the first media timeout of the half. Longcor stopped the bleeding with yet another trey, but the Lobos responded with back-to-back treys of their own to cut the deficit to single digits at 59-50 for the first time since the 6:37 mark of the opening half.
New Mexico continued to claw their way back into the contest, working SCU's lead all the way down to just two at 77-75 with 3:45 remaining following an 8-0 run. Gavalyugov knocked down a pair of free throws to put an end to the spree, but the Lobos struck for five more unanswered to take their first lead since first the four minutes of the contest at 80-79 with less than three minutes remaining. Mahi then swung the momentum right back in SCU's favor with his sixth triple of the night on the next possession to regain the lead at 82-80.
UNM grabbed the lead again for the last time with 54 seconds remaining, but
Jake Ensminger knocked down a monstrous triple from the top of the key with 29.9 seconds on the clock to flip the score right back in SCU's favor at 85-83. The Broncos got a huge stop of the ensuing possession and Zugic knocked down both free throws after drawing a foul with 12.4 seconds remaining to make it 87-83 in Santa Clara's favor.
The game wasn't over just yet though as UNM's Jake Hall drew a foul on late 3-point attempt with six seconds remaining, however the nation's second-leading scorer entering the contest made just 2-of-3 free throws allowing SCU to hold on to a two-point advantage. Zugic pushed the lead back up to three after going 1-for-2 at the free throw line on SCU's next possession, and Ensminger wisely fouled on the Lobos' last possession to prevent any chance of a tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds. UNM's Hudson Mayes missed both free throw attempts, and Zugic put the game to rest for good by knocking down two more freebies that extended the lead to five in the waning moments.
GAME NOTES/KEY PERFORMERS
- Santa Clara's 12 first-half treys were their most in a half since knocking down 15 in the first half against Washington State in Pullman, Wash. on Feb. 22, 2025. SCU finished with a program-record 23 treys that evening.
- SCU has held the lead in the first half in 4-of-5 games thus far in 2026-27.
- 90 points was SCU's second-highest scoring total of the season (95 vs. Milwaukee).
- The Broncos improved to 4-6 all-time against New Mexico. The win was SCU's first over the Lobos since Nov. 24, 2011 (79-76 ot)
- Santa Clara improved to 69-19 inside the Leavey Center over the last five seasons.
- Mahi had a 5-for-5 start from 3-point range for 20 points in the first half alone. He finished with 26 points for his third game in double figures on the season and the 45th of his career. It was also his 10th career game with 20 points or more.
- Gavalyugov also tallied his four double-figure scoring game of the year with a season-best 19 points. It was his 14th such game as a Bronco.
- Zugic was the fourth Bronco to reach double-figure scoring on the evening and finished with a season-best 15 points for his third such game on the season.
- Brad Longcor III reached double figure scoring himself with 12 points, his fourth such game of the year.
- Francis Chukwudebelu posted a career-best three blocks.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos will have a few days to ready themselves for yet another big nonconference match up inside the Leavey Center on Thursday, Nov. 19 against VCU. The game will be a nationally-televised broadcast on ESPN2 and is set for 7:30 p.m. PT.
