WATCH | EYEBRONCO's Highlights from the Victory!
Jared Brownridge scored a season-high 27 points with Brandon Clark adding 23, as SCU defeated Rider 68-60 in the final day of the Orlando Classic. Brownridge and Clark were the last pair of Bronco teammates to score 20+ points. Brownridge had 30 and Clark added 20 vs. BYU on Jan. 18, 2014.
Santa Clara is 3-4. Rider is 2-5. Finishing off six straight games on the road, Santa Clara travels to San Jose State for a 7 pm game on Sat., Dec. 6.
Santa Clara shot 50.0 percent from the field (24-48), including 45.5 percent from beyond the arc (10-22). They collected 13 assists, 29 rebounds, four steals, one block and 11 turnovers. They shot 83.3 percent from the free throw line (10-12).
The Broncos were led by Brownridge and his 27 points on 9-15 shooting and 6-11 from deep. Clark added 23 points on 8-14 shooting to go with five rebounds and six assists. Matt Hubbard chipped in 10 points with two rebounds.
Rider shot 41.7 percent from the field (25-60), including 25.0 percent from beyond the arc (6-24). They collected 11 assists, 32 rebounds, six steals and nine turnovers. They shot 57.1 percent from the free throw line (4-7).
The Broncs were led by Jimmie Taylor who scored 18 points on 7-15 shooting and 4-9 from deep to go with three rebounds and three assists. Matt Lopez scored 14 on 6-7 shooting while Kahlil Thomas added 10 points. Anthony D'Orazio had six rebounds.
Brownridge opened the game knocking down back-to-back threes. Hubbard scored inside at 16:49 but Rider's 12-1 run put the Broncs up 12-9 at 9:39.
Clark scored off the glass to stop the Rider run at 9:08, 12-11 Rider.
As SCU turned it over six times in a minute and a half, Rider's 6-0 run made it 18-11 at 7:26. Hubbard scored inside at 5:48 and Lopez matched him at 4:39.
Dominic Romeo came flying off the bench and scored his first college basket at 4:09 and second free throw at 4:01. Lopez knocked down a couple of free throws at 3:39. Clark scored back-to-back baskets, a floater and a three, to pull SCU within one at 2:00 as the Rider lead was cut to one, 22-21.
Healy crushed a three with hands in his face to give the Broncos a 24-22 lead with 1:25. Thomas scored Rider's first basket in more than four minutes with 31 seconds left in the half to tie it up.
Another floater by Clark gave SCU a 26-24 lead at halftime. Clark had nine points and Brownridge scored six. Both had a team-high four boards. Lopez scored 10 for Rider and D'Orazio added four rebounds.
The Broncos ended the first half on an 11-4 run, taking a 26-24 lead to the lockers, and then opened the second half on an 11-4 run. Hubbard and Brownridge made back-to-back threes, putting SCU up 32-24 at 18:11. After Rider scored on successive possessions, Brownridge laid it in at 17:03 and Clark hit his second three at 16:23 to make the lead nine, 37-28.
When Evan Wardlow dumped in a Denzel Johnson miss at 14:01, the lead was 11, 41-30. Rider's 10-0 run cut the lead three, 43-40, at 9:57.
Brownridge made back-to-back threes in less than a minute and then Rider's Taylor added his own pair of threes to cut the Bronco lead to one, 49-48, at 7:27. Hubbard added one inside at 7:01. Clark picked up a three-point play at 5:46 and added a floater at 4:19, 56-51.
Brownridge added his sixth three at 3:38, 59-53 Broncos. Rider's 4-0 run was dashed by a pair of free throws by Clark as SCU pushed its lead to four, 61-57, with 1:01 left.
Brownridge scored a three point play with 25 seconds left, but Taylor kept the pressure on, hitting a three with 15 seconds left. Clark added a pair of free throws with 14.2 seconds left.
Game Notes: Brandon Clark, Jared Brownridge, Denzel Johnson, Kai Healy and Matt Hubbard started for the Broncos. It was Healy's first start of his career … Senior forward Yannick Atanga (6-8, 225) is out with a knee injury … Redshirt-freshman Emmanual Ndumanya (6-9, 270) is out with a left foot injury … Dominic Romeo scored his first college basket at 4:09, a lay-up.
