Broncos Fall to Lions 74-62

Highlights

Despite Santa Clara's Yannick Atanga and Niyi Harrison collecting near double-doubles, the Broncos fell 74-62 to the Loyola Marymount Lions in the Leavey Center. Santa Clara is 8-11 and 0-6 in the WCC. LMU moves to 12-8 and 5-2 in the WCC.

The Broncos will host USF Thursday night at 7 pm in the Leavey Center.  It will be the first meeting between the teams since the Bronco's win in last year's CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Santa Clara shot 35.7 percent from the field (20 of 56), including 27.8 percent beyond the arc (5 of 18).  They collected 33 rebounds, ten assists, seven blocks and steals.  The Broncos shot 81.0 percent from the charity stripe (17 of 21) and turned the ball over 12 times.

Individually Santa Clara was led by Evan Roquemore's 17 points. Harrison (11 points and nine rebounds) and Atanga (career-high 12 points and nine rebounds) had near double-doubles, while John McArthur added eight points off the bench.

LMU shot 51 percent from the field (25 of 49), including 42.9 percent beyond the arc (6 of 14).  They collected 31 rebounds, 12 assists, three blocks and seven steals.  The Lions shot 75.0 percent from the charity stripe (18 of 24) and turned the ball over 12 times.

Individually Loyola Marymount was led by Anthony Ireland's 25 points (7 of 13 from the field) and five assists. Drew Viney chipped in clutch buckets down the stretch and finished with 16 points. LaRon Armstead added 11 while Alex Osborne led the Lions effort on the glass with nine rebounds.

Atanga tipped in the first bucket of the game at 19:10.  The Lions countered with a 7-0 run before Atanga threw down a dunk on the other end. LMU quickly strung together another 7-0 capped by a Drew Viney jumper. Evan Roquemore countered with a three of his own from the left wing, but Viney scored on the inside to make it 16-7 at 14:20.

The teams swapped points for the next several minutes until the Broncos  strung together a mini-run capped by Julian Clarke's three at 8:11 to make it 26-19 Loyola Marymount.  Blackwell knocked down a free throw but Harrison countered with a dunk and Atanga scored two free throws.

The Broncos, who earlier in the half trailed by 12, found themselves trailing only by three after a Harrison free throw at 4:46. DuBois drilled a three from the left wing but Roquemore answered with a three from the left corner. B. Clark scored on the inside, but Dubois hit a tough step back jumper to push the lead back to four.

The teams swapped buckets before Viney and Ireland hit buckets for LMU. McArthur knocked down two free throws and converted inside to cut the Lions lead back to four at 40.9. Ireland knocked down two free throws and LMU took a 41-35 lead into the break.

In the first half Santa Clara shot 48.1 percent from the field (13 of 27), including 44.4 percent beyond the arc (4 of 9).  They collected 12 rebounds, eight assists, four blocks and one steal.  The Broncos shot 71.4 percent from the charity stripe (5 of 7) and turned the ball over six times.

Individually Santa Clara was led by Yannick Atanga led the Broncos with eight points and two rebounds. Evan Roquemore added eight while John McArthur added six points. 

In the first half LMU shot  55.2 percent from the field (16 of 29), including 57.1% percent beyond the arc (4 of 7).  They collected 16 rebounds, 10 assists, one block and two steals.  The Lions shot 62.5 percent from the charity stripe (5 of 8) and turned the ball over six times.

Loyola Marymount was led by Anthony Ireland and Drew Viney's nine points. LaRon Armstead chipped in eight, while Jarred DuBois added five off the bench.