STOCKTON, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball just keeps on rolling. The Broncos are 11-1 in WCC play and have won seven-straight after handing Pacific their first home loss of the season, taking down the Tigers 71-56 Wednesday evening in Alex G. Spanos Center.
In a tale of two halves, Santa Clara shot 32 percent in the opening 20 minutes but came alive in the second half with a 60 percent shooting clip (15-of-25). The Broncos completed the series sweep over the Tigers and picked up win No. 20 to extend their streak of consecutive seasons with 20 or more victories to five.
Jake Ensminger celebrated his birthday in style, tying his season-high scoring total of 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting as one of four Broncos to reach double figures in the 15-point victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Points were tough to come across for both teams in the opening 20 minutes. The Broncos (20-5, 11-1) put up a high volume of 3-point attempts, but converted on just 21.1 percent (4-of-19) and shot 32.4 percent from the floor. Despite the slow offensive start, Santa Clara once again was opportunistic on defense with 11 forced turnovers while committing just one themselves.
- Trailing 11-7 early on, freshman KJ Cochran provided a spark from off the bench with a quick 7-2 run all on his own to give Santa Clara a 14-13 lead with less than 11 minutes remaining in the period.
- Pacific (15-10, 6-6) pushed back and took advantage of a Bronco scoring drought by building a five-point lead at 21-16 with under eight minutes remaining before Elijah Mahi knocked down a trey to spark a 14-7 finish to close the half. Brenton Knapper closed the half the same way he opened it by knocking down a trey to make it a six-point game in the final minute, however Pacific's TJ Wainwright knocked down a jumper at the buzzer to make it a four-point affair at 30-26.
- Knapper saw the momentum of his 22-point performance at LMU carry over into the first half of this game with a 3-for-4 start for a team-best eight points in the opening half.
- Santa Clara's offensive began to settle in and find their rhythm in the early stages of the second half. The Broncos shot just under 65 percent in the first eight minutes and built a 10-point advantage at 59-49 with 9:03 remaining following back-to-back buckets from Ensminger.
- Pacific made one final push with a 5-0 run to cut it to a two-possession game at 59-53, but that was as close as the Broncos would allow as they rattled off a 12-2 spree of the own to take control for good.
- The Broncos shot 44.1 percent for the night while Pacific converted on 42.9 percent.
- Santa Clara was plus-10 in turnover margin as they forced 17 defensively while giving it up just seven times themselves to tie their season-low.
- Pacific, who was 10-0 at home at the start of the night, won the rebounding battle, 39-33, with Justin Rochelin pulling down 11 of his own as part of a double-double. Four Tigers scored double figures with Wainwright leading the way with 13 to tie Ensminger for the game-high.
NOTABLE NUMBERS:
- Ensminger's 13-point total was his fourth double-figure scoring total of the year and 10th of his career. The junior from Ulm, Germany also pulled down six rebounds in 32 minutes of work.
- Allen Graves turned in yet another outstanding performance with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, one block and a career-best five steals. The big man has now reached double figure scoring in nine-straight games and 17 games overall.
- Graves' five steals brought his season total to 52, besting Steve Kenilvort's 50 steals in 1982-83 for the most by a freshman in program history. He has tallied 10 games with at least three steals on the season.
- Knapper finished with 11 points on 4-for-5 shooting, including a 3-for-4 mark from 3-point range. It was his second-straight game in double figures, his 10th such game overall and 20th of his career.
- Elijah Mahi logged 10 points for his fourth-consecutive game in double figures. It was his 20th game in double figures overall, tying Christian Hammond for most on the season. The Toronto native also pulled down three rebounds and had three assists.
- Cochran finished with seven rebounds and tied his season-high of four rebounds. Hammond also logged seven points and three assists.
- Bukky Oboye tied his career-high of three steals to go with four points and four rebounds.
- Santa Clara, the WCC leader in steals at 9.3 per contest, finished with 11 steals for their 13th game with 10 or more.
- The Broncos' seven-game win streak is their longest in conference play since also stringing together seven in 2022-23.
- SCU is now 110-47 all-time against the Tigers and have won their last five meetings inside Alex G. Spanos Center.
POSTGAME COMMENTS:
UP NEXT:
The Broncos have one more stop to close out their three-game road streak before returning to Leavey Center. Santa Clara will head to Pullman, Wash. on Saturday, Feb. 7, to take on the Washington State Cougars in a 3:00 p.m. PT tip.
