LAS VEGAS – Santa Clara men's basketball's quest for a third WCC Tournament title came to an end in the final game of the 2026 Credit Union 1 WCC Championship. The 3-seed Broncos led 1-seed No. 12 Gonzaga for the first 23 minutes of the game, but the Bulldogs outscored SCU 50-35 over the second half to run away with a 79-68 victory and picked up their 23rd WCC Tournament title in their final year with the conference. 

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Santa Clara (26-8) scored the game's first six points and jumped out to a 9-1 lead before the Bulldogs (30-3) finally hit their first shot. The Broncos pushed the lead to 14-6 before Gonzaga chipped it back down to tie the game at 16-all, and it was 19-19 at the under-8 timeout after the teams traded 3-point buckets.
• SCU used a 7-0 spurt capped by a Jake Ensminger trey to take a 26-19 advantage with just over minutes remaining in the half. Sash Gavalyugov knocked down a 3-pointer of his own with 1:55 on the clock to make it an eight-point Bronco lead at 33-25, however Gonzaga scored the final four points of the half to make it 33-29 as the teams headed into the locker room.
• Christian Hammond had 12 points at the break while Allen Graves nearly had a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds in just 14 minutes of work in the opening 20 minutes. The Broncos had 11 offensive rebounds leading to 13 second-chance points in the first half.
• The teams exchanged blows over the first four minutes of the second half with Hammond knocking down a key 3-pointer to keep the Broncos ahead by two possessions at 47-42 following a thunderous dunk by Graham Ike that brought the largely pro-Gonzaga crowd to life. The Bulldogs responded with a 5-0 spurt and following a jumper from KJ Cochran, they took their first lead of the night on a Davis Fogle triple. Elijah Mahi, however, had an answer with a trey of his own to give the Broncos to the lead right back at 52-50 with 12:06 remaining.
• The Bulldogs proceeded to use a 7-0 run to take a two-possession lead of their own at 57-52 with 8:55 left in the contest, and extended the lead to nine at 65-56. Gavalyugov knocked down another triple to make it a two-possession game with less than four minutes to play, but that was as close as the Broncos would get as the Bulldogs took control for good with a 9-2 run to take a 12-point lead inside the final minute. 
• Gonzaga shot 58.6 percent in the second half while the Broncos were limited to just 37.1 percent. Ike, who was mostly contained in the first half, scored 11 of his 15 points in the final 20 minutes while Mario Saint-Supery logged 15 of his 21 points in the second half as well. Tyon Grant-Foster also had a big second half with 12 points as part of his 20-point effort. 
• Hammond led the way for Santa Clara with a game-high 24 points while Allen Graves turned in 11 points and nine rebounds. 
• Santa Clara shot 38.2 percent for the night while Gonzaga shot above 50 percent at 52.8 percent. 

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

•  Hammond reached the 20-point marker for the 10^th time this season, the most by a Bronco since Brandin Podziemski (15) and Carlos Stewart Jr. (11) in 2022-23. It was his 27^th game in double figures.  
• Graves reached double-figure scoring for the 25^th time. He also had a pair of steals and three assists. 
• Santa Clara led at the half for the 25^th time this season and is 22-3 when doing so.