Notre Dame, Ind. – Santa Clara hung with Notre Dame until the middle of the second half, but a 12-0 run over a four-minute span from 11:06-7:07 proved to be enough for the Irish as they won 84-69. Santa Clara is 2-2 and Notre Dame is 3-1. Santa Clara returns home Thanksgiving weekend to host the 47th Annual Cable Car Classic on Nov. 29-30 with its first match-up vs. North Dakota State at 8:15 pm on Nov. 29. Rice and Rider will play in the early game at 6 pm on Nov. 29.
"On the road, against an ACC team, every opportunity counts," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating. "We took care of the ball with just nine turnovers, but we didn't capitalize at times when we needed to. Young teams like ours get so energized with every possession and when things didn't go our way a couple times, I think we got a little deflated. Notre Dame is a good team – an NCAA tournament team – with a lot of battle-tested upperclassmen and Grant is a nice player."
The Broncos were 25 of 60 from the field, including 10 of 22 from beyond the arc. They were 9 of 12 from the free throw line. They added 16 assists, five steals, four blocks and 25 rebounds. Individually Santa Clara was led by Brandon Clark's 21 points, just off the career-high 23 points he has put up the past two games. He added six assists. Jared Brownridge was 4 of 8 from beyond the arc to score 16 points. Evan Roquemore, playing his first minutes this year after being out with a back issue, scored nine. Yannick Atanga led the team with five rebounds and Robert Garrett blocked two balls.
The Irish were 27 of 57 from the field, including 7 of 16 from beyond the arc. They were 23 of 27 from the free throw line. They added 16 assists, seven steals, three blocks and 42 rebounds. Individually Notre Dame put four players in double digits. Jerian Grant scored 20, Garrick Sherman and Eric Atkins 16 each and Demetrius Jackson finished with 13. Austin Burgett added 10 rebounds.
After an Irish basket inside at 19:44, Brownridge connected from deep. B. Clark gave SCU the lead when he drove the lane at 19:01. Brownridge scored his second triple at 16:41 to put the Broncos up 8-6. B. Clark tipped it in at 16:09 to make it 10-7 after Sherman went 1 of 2 from the free throw line.
Garrett finished strong over Sherman and SCU was up 12-7 at 14:56 with Evan Roquemore checking in the first time on the make. The Irish went on a 7-0 run to take a 14-12 lead at 12:50. Roquemore's three, his first basket of the year, from the corner stopped the rally, 15-14 SCU at 12:12.
The Irish went on another 4-0 run but Brown drove inside at 9:48. Atanga danced in the lane for two on a dandy pass from Brown at 8:52, 19-18 Broncos. B. Clark scored his first triple at 7:58. Knight's basket from 10 feet out tied it up 22-22 at 7:33. Brown hit a free throw before the Irish went on an 10-0 run to take a 30-23 lead.
Brownridge's third three on a sweet pass from McArthur stopped the run at 3:50. The Irish continued with a 6-0 run before J. Clarke drove down the sideline for two.
McArthur hit his first three at 1:44 to pull the Broncos back within eight, 39-31. Brownridge hit a pair of free throws at 1:03 before Atkins laid it in with 34 seconds left. B. Clark scored inside with four seconds left in the half, 41-35 Irish.
In the first half, the Broncos were 13 of 34 from the field, including 6 of 13 from beyond the arc. They were 3 of 4 from the free throw line. They added eight assists, three steals, one block, two turnovers and 14 rebounds. Individually Santa Clara was led by Brownridge's 11 points. B. Clark added nine with Atanga pulling down five rebounds.
The Irish were 13 of 28 from the field, including 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. They were 11 of 14 from the free throw line. They added seven assists, two steals, two blocks, five turnovers and 24 rebounds. Individually Notre Dame was led by Grant's 13 points and Atkins added nine. Burgett collected six rebounds.
The Irish opened the half with a pair of free throws and Johnson and McArthur answered inside on back-to-back possessions. The Irish scored inside and a pair of free throws to go up 47-39. McArthur scored again from 15 feet out and B. Clark buried a three from the corner to pull within five at 16:12, 49-44.
With the team's trading inside baskets, Roquemore crushed a three at 13:46, 53-49 Irish. The Irish went on a 4-2 run until Johnson grabbed the miss by Sherman and drove the lane for an eight footer, 57-53 Irish at 11:06.
The Irish went on a 12-0 run over the next four minutes to go up 69-53 before Roquemore sank a free throw at 7:07 and Brownridge made his fourth three at 6:35. Grant scored his 20th point of the night on a three from the corner at 6:04 and B. Clark matched him from the Bronco corner at 5:41, 74-62 Irish.
Grant hit a three with four seconds on the shot clock and 2:04 left on the clock to take a 12-point lead and put the game out of reach for the Broncos.
The Irish won 84-69.
Game notes: The Broncos replaced Jalen Richard with Denzel Johnson in the starting line-up. The Broncos started the following others for the fourth straight game: Jared Brownridge, Brandon Clark, John McArthur and Yannick Atanga … Attendance was 9,149 … Santa Clara is 0-2 vs. UND after losing in 1972 at Notre Dame in Carroll Williams' ninth game as the head coach ... Freshman Jared Brownridge had 16 points in his return to the Midwest and junior Brandon Clark had 21 in his second trip back to the Midwest this calendar year (Santa Clara won at Purdue March 25 in the quarterfinals of the CBI).