Click here to watch an interview with Jared Brownridge post-game
Vegas, Nev. – In the opening round of the WCC Championship, Crons WCC Newcomer of the Year Jared Brownridge continued to show his hot hand beyond the arc and three Broncos also added double figures as the Broncos defeated Pacific 81-64 Thursday night.
Santa Clara advances to play Gonzaga in the quarterfinals at on Sat., March 8 at 6 pm on ESPN2. The game will be also be broadcast on KDOW1220AM with Anthony Passarelli coming on the air at the top of the hour.
Santa Clara is 14-18 and Pacific ends its first season back in the WCC at 15-15.
Santa Clara shot 44.8 percent from the field (26 of 58), including 41.7 percent from beyond the arc (10 of 24). The Broncos shot 86.4 percent from the free throw line (19 of 22). They collected 37 rebounds, five assists, four steals, one block and had eight turnovers.
Moving to No. 2 among all-time Bay Area freshman point scorers (543 points), Brownridge scored 20 points, shooting 4 of 8 from the three point line (was 7 of 9 at Pepperdine in last game). It is his 25th game in double figures this season and he now has 91 threes this season.
Brandon Clark scored 15, extending his double figures streak to 22 straight games. Jerry Brown scored 12 with eight boards.
Evan Roquemore scored 15 with five of six from the free throw line. He also moved past Kevin Foster to become the career school record holder in minutes played with 4,237. He also owns the school record for career assists and career free throws made.
Pacific shot 40.8 percent from the field (20 of 49), including 22.2 percent from beyond the arc (4 of 18). The Tigers shot 76.9 percent from the free throw line (20 of 26). They collected 28 rebounds, six assists, one steal, no blocks and had nine turnovers.
Pacific was led by Sama Taku who scored 16 points. Tony Gill added 10. T.J. Wallace led the Tigers with seven boards.
Taking a five-point lead into the second half, Brownridge matched it with a jumper after a pair of Tiger free throws. He crushed his third three from the top of the key at 18:02, 39-31 Broncos.
Nate Kratch made a three from the corner and SCU led by nine, 46-37. Brownridge's fourth three put SCU up by 10. Roquemore and Denzel Johnson hit two pairs of back-to-back free throws and the Broncos led by 14 at 11:03.
Roquemore, Clark and Brown scored three more pairs of free throws and the lead was 16 again, 62-46, at 8:54. Brown scored back-to-back buckets inside, giving him 12 for the game and the Bronco lead was 19 at 7:12.
Roquemore hit a jumper to put the Broncos up by 20 at 2:39, 79-59.
Brownridge opened the game hitting two of three free throws and then a three to put SCU up 5-0 at 18:23. An 8-0 run by the Tigers over the next three minutes made it 8-5 Tigers at 14:59.
The Broncos' 6-2 run of their own started with Johnson laying the ball in. Clark crushed a three and Brown scored six of the next eight Broncos points to put SCU up 18-15 at 8:21.
Gill's three gave the Tigers a two-point lead. Roquemore matched it and McArthur banked one in off the glass After a three by Taylor, Roquemore made his second beyond the arc and Clark laid it in to make the Bronco lead five at 4:20, 28-23.
After four straight Tiger points, a three-point by Roquemore made the lead four again at 2:06. Brownridge crushed his second three of the game with 32 seconds left in the half, 34-29 Broncos – the score at halftime.
Game Notes: Santa Clara started Brandon Clark, Jalen Richard, Jared Brownridge, Jerry Brown and Yannick Atanga for the second straight game … With the three at 14:26 in the second half, Brownridge passed former Cal superstar and current NBA Pelican Ryan Anderson (539) to move to No. 3 in all-time Bay Area freshman points scored list … With a lay-up at 3:31 in the second half, he passed USF's Winford Boynes (542) to move to No. 2 on the Bay Area freshman list. Shareef Adbur-Rahim of Cal is the all-time Bay Area freshman points scorer with 590.