ST. LOUIS, Mo. – March is madness, indeed. Santa Clara men's basketball looked to have their first win in the NCAA Tournament in 30 years all but locked up after Allen Graves' 3-point bucket in the final two seconds of regulation, but an improbable half-court shot from Kentucky's Otega Oweh tied the game at the buzzer to force overtime. The Broncos were unable to contain the Wildcats in the extra period and fell 89-84 in a March Madness instant classic.

Graves finished with 17 points while senior Elijah Mahi logged 20 points in his final game in a Bronco uniform. The game featured 20 lead changes and 12 ties.

Santa Clara concludes the season with a 26-9 record, tied for the second-most wins in program history.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The Broncos took their first lead of the morning on a Christian Hammond trey with 14:20 on the clock in the half. Kentucky (22-13) regained the lead and pushed it up to five with just under seven minutes to go in the period, but a timely trey in transition from Sash Gavalyugov off a Jake Ensminger steal cut it back to a two-point game at 23-21.
• The Wildcats regained a five-point advantage on a Mouhamed Dioubate triple, but a layup from Bukky Oboye followed by a trio of free throws knotted the game at 26. Kentucky hit another 3-pointer, their fourth of the half, to jump back on top, but Elijah Mahi answered with the Broncos' fourth trey with 1:49 on the clock to even the score yet again. Ensminger put SCU on top with a pair of free throws with just over a minute remaining and got a defensive stop on the Wildcats' final possession to head to the locker room with a 31-29 lead.
• Both defenses played well in the opening 20 minutes with SCU holding Kentucky to just 41.4 percent while being held to 35.5 percent themselves. Mahi led the way with 10 points in the half while Ensminger tallied six points, five rebounds, three steals and a pair of assists in the first 20 minutes.
• Santa Clara scored a couple of quick buckets to push the lead up to 35-31 to open the second half, but Kentucky hit consecutive treys to swing the four-point advantage into their favor at 44-40 with 16:31 remaining. The Wildcats pushed the lead up to seven at 55-41 before Gavalyugov answered with a trey followed by a Mahi layup to cut it back to a one-possession game at 51-49.
• The Broncos regained the lead following a 2-for-2 trip at the charity stripe for Allen Graves and Gavalyugov buried his third triple of the game with just under eight minutes remaining to push the lead up to 59-55. Kentucky pushed back with a 5-0 scoring spree to regain the lead, but a jumper from Graves flipped the lead right back at 64-63 with 5:44 remaining.
• The lead changed hands once again before Graves had a four-point swing of his own with two free throws and a tough layup against pressure. The Ponchatoula, La., product would go on to score the Broncos' 11 final points of regulation. Each time he scored, though, Oweh answered for the Wildcats, including the back-breaker at the buzzer. He tied the game at 70 on a layup with nine seconds remaining, leading to Graves' last-second trey and subsequent buzzer-beater.
• The Wildcats struck first in overtime, but Mahi knocked down a 3-ball and following another 2-pointer from Kentucky, Gavalyugov drained another trey to make it 79-77 with 2:37 left. That would be SCU's final lead of the game as Kentucky would go on to score eight-straight to take a 85-79 lead inside the final 30 seconds.
• Ensminger drilled a corner trey with 19 seconds left to give the Bronco Faithful some hope, but the Wildcats converted both free throws following the must-foul situation and put the exclamation point on the game with a dunk with five seconds left.
• Kentucky finished the game with a 51 percent scoring clip while the Broncos connected on 41 percent. SCU hit 12 treys and shot 92 percent at the charity stripe (12-of-13).
• Oweh finished with 35 points to lead the way for Kentucky.

NOTABLE NUMBERS:

• Mahi was 7-of-16 from the floor and knocked down four treys to go with five rebounds, two assists and a steal. It was his 26^th game in double-figure scoring on the year and 42^nd of his career. It was also his fifth 20-point effort of 2025-26.
• Mahi is the 11^th Bronco to tally a 20-point game in the NCAA Tournament.
• Graves finished with 17 points and was a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. He pulled down seven rebounds and had a block. He finished the season with 26 double-figure scoring efforts, tied with Mahi for second-most on the team.
• Gavalyugov reached double-figure scoring for the 10^th time, turning in 16 points with four 3-pointers to go with six rebounds and five assists
• Ensminger stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points to go with a game-high eight rebounds and three steals.
• This was Santa Clara's first overtime game of the season and first since Jan. 9, 2025 against Oregon State.
• The Broncos logged their 22^nd game with 10 or more treys.
• SCU dropped just its second game of the year when scoring 80 or more points (19-2).

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