SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara men's basketball team nearly closed out 2015 with signature victory, but battle-tested Gonzaga made enough plays down the stretch in the New Year's Eve contest to escape with its fifth-straight win.

Freshman Josh Perkins scored a career-high 26 points and senior Kyle Wiltjer added 20 for the hot-shooting Bulldogs, who held on for a 79-77 victory against the Broncos in Thursday afternoon's West Coast Conference game.

The Bulldogs (11-3, 3-0), ranked No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, shot 57 percent from the floor and hit six free throws in the final 27 seconds at Leavey Center.

Jared Brownridge led the Broncos (4-11, 0-3) with 26 points on 8-for-19 shooting from the floor, including 6 of 9 from behind the 3-point line, in a game tied 12 times with 11 lead changes.

"All the credit to Gonzaga for yet another road win," Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating said. "It's what they do and they do a great job of it. We played well, well enough to have a chance to win the game."

Despite shooting just 35 percent from the field in the second half, the Broncos, who hit 12 of 24 from beyond the 3-point line in the game, had an opportunity to pull ahead with less than a minute to go.

A fallaway jumper by Wiltjer at the top of key with the shot clock running down made it 73-69 with 1:53 left, but Brownridge nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing on the next possession

Domantas Sabonis, who was held to 11 points and five rebounds, missed a running hook shot and the ball went out of bounds with 1:04 left.

However, Brownridge missed badly on a contested potential go-ahead 3-pointer and the ball went out of bounds with 2 seconds on the shot clock and 36.2 remaining in the game. Brownridge then missed a 3-pointer from the corner with Wiltjer rebounding the ball as it grazed the rim.

Gonzaga's Eric McClellan, who had 15 points, was fouled and made both free throws with 27 seconds left for a 75-72 lead.
 
Brownridge nearly tied it up on the next possession. He appeared to hit a driving layup, while being fouled, but the basket was waved off and he hit one free throw.

The Broncos then forced a turnover when Brendyn Taylor tied up Silas Melson on the inbounds play with the possession arrow favoring Santa Clara.

"We were down two with no timeouts at the end there and we executed exactly what we worked on and caused the jump ball." Keating said. "We get the ball back and then execute our deep corner side out that we've been working on since September. We run it and get the wide-open look. The ball just didn't go in."

With 14 seconds left on the inbounds play, KJ Feagin hit Matt Hubbard heading to the basket all alone, but the sophomore forward, who sprained his ankle last time out vs. Saint Mary's, couldn't get the layup attempt to go down.

After Melson hit one free throw, Feagin was intentionally fouled and made two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to cut the deficit to 76-75. Sabonis and Brownridge then each hit a pair of free throws.

Perkins was 10-for-12 from the floor, but struggled from the free-throw line (4 of 8).

With 2.5 seconds left and Gonzaga leading 78-77, Perkins missed the first of two free throw attempts. The Bulldogs called timeout and he appeared to intentionally miss the second and he came up with the rebound, was fouled and sank one of two from the line, sending the Broncos to their sixth loss this season by three points or less.

"We just got to keep bottling up these lessons and understand how to make it work for the next game," Keating said. "We are going to keep learning. They are doing a great job of not letting past events dictate future effort."

Feagin had 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field and Kai Healy added 10 (4 of 5 FGs).

Nate Kratch, who fouled out along with Brownridge, was held to eight points and five rebounds, while battling down low against Wiltjer and Sabonis.

Perkins scored 18 of Gonzaga's 39 second-half points.

"Credit to Perkins for stepping up and giving them a lift but we thought we did a pretty good job on Sabonis," Keating said of the league's top rebounder.

Both teams shot the ball well in the first half. The Bulldogs got out of the gate hitting 10 of their first 15 from the field to build a 23-11 lead through 10 minutes, but the Broncos battled back behind Brownridge.

After hitting a pair of running layups, Brownridge started to connect from long range.

His second 3-pointer of the game made it 25-19 with 8:59 left in the first half and ignited a 9-0 run over a 2-minute span. Healy added a pair of inside buckets before Feagin fed Emmnauel Ndumanya for a dunk to tie the game.

McClellan and Brownridge then went back-and-forth. After Brownridge's fallaway 3-pointer from the left wing tied the game at 30-all, McClellan hit from behind the 3-point line and then Brownridge connected on a three to tie it again.

The Broncos close out a three-game homestand Saturday when Portland visits town. The game is set for a 1 p.m. tipoff in Leavey Center.

Notes: The Broncos have shot 48.6 percent (54 of 111) from behind the 3-point line in the last five games … they played on New Year's Eve for the second time in the last 45 years. Santa Clara lost at BYU, 87-74, on Dec. 31, 2014. Prior to that, the Broncos last played on Dec. 31, 1970, when they fell at No. 15 Notre Dame, 85-83, in overtime … Jared Brownridge (26 points) moved from 20th place to a tie for 18th on the school's all-time scoring list. Brownridge scored 26 points and now has 1,380 in his career. He passed Jens Gordon (1,356/1985-89) and is now tied with Travis Niesen (2002-06) … Emmanuel Ndumanya made his first career start today. His 24 minutes played were one shy of his career high (25 vs. Portland, Feb. 7, 2015). He was in the starting lineup replacing Matt Hubbard who injured an ankle last time out vs. Saint Mary's. Hubbard, who started the last eight games, was able to play 17 minutes, but did not enter the scoring column … Jarvis Pugh, who returned against Saint Mary's after missing seven games with a knee injury, was not able to play today … Kai Healy (10 points) hit double figures for the second time this season. He had a career-high 14 points vs. Boston College in the final game of the Wooden Legacy (Nov. 29) … Domantis Sabonis' five rebounds were his second-lowest total of the season (four vs. Texas A&M, Nov. 26). He came in averaging a WCC-best 10.8 per game … Matt Hauser is averaging 9.5 points during the last two games.