Feb. 12, 2006
MORAGA, Calif. (AP) - Todd Golden hit four straight free throws in the final 35 seconds to give Saint Mary's a 54-51 West Coast Conference victory over archrival Santa Clara on Saturday night.
The two teams will meet again Monday night in SCU's Leavey Center in a 7 p.m. start that will be televised by Comcast SportsNet West. For ticket, call 408/554-4660.
Daniel Kickert, Saint Mary's all-time scoring leader, had a game-high 21 points and passed Luc Longley to become the NCAA's all-time scoring leader by an Australian national.
Sean Denison and Travis Niesen had 16 each for Santa Clara (9-13, 2-8 WCC). Denison shot 7-for-9 from the field en route to equaling his career-high.
The Gaels (11-11, 4-6) had been held scoreless on their six previous possessions when Santa Clara scored seven straight points, including five by Niesen, to take a 51-50 lead with 2:41 left to play.
Golden, an 85.2 percent free-throw shooter, sank both ends of a one-and-one with 35.2 seconds left, followed by two more after a foul by Joey Kaempf with 9.7 seconds to go.
Mitch Henke missed a 3-point attempt from the corner that would have tied it up at the buzzer.
Santa Clara took a 16-9 lead to start the game before the Gaels went on a 15-1 run en route to a 26-22 halftime lead.
The Broncos overcame the deficit early in the second half with a 9-0 run on Henke's 3-pointer and two free throws. With Santa Clara leading by three, Kickert connected on three straight 3-pointers as Saint Mary's built an eight-point lead midway through the second half.