WATCH | Highlights and Interviews with Keating, Feagin, Jadersten
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Freshman KJ Feagin scored a game-high 25 points and junior Jared Brownridge tallied 23, including six free throws in the final minute, to lift the Santa Clara men's basketball team to a 84-77 West Coast Conference victory against Portland Saturday afternoon.
Brownridge (13 of 13) and Feagin (13 of 14) combined to miss just one free throw as the Broncos, who snapped a four-game skid, connected on a season-best 86.5 percent (32 of 37) from the line.
Santa Clara (5-11, 1-3), which had its highest point total of the season, went 20 of 21 from the line in the second half, including 10-for-10 in the final 1:05 of a game tied 16 times with 17 lead changes.
Bryce Pressley led Portland (8-9, 2-2) with 23 points, but leading scorer Alec Wintering was held to 16 points on only 3-for-17 from the field. Wintering scored a combined 65 points in the previous two games (31 vs. USF Thursday; 34 vs. Pepperdine, Dec. 23).
"Portland has been playing well," Santa Clara head coach Kerry Keating said. "They are a high-scoring team with dynamic guards. Pressley and Wintering are as good as you're going to get in this league. Our guys did a good job on Wintering I thought."
The Broncos took the lead for good with less than 8 minutes left in the game, but had to hang on down the stretch.
Nate Kratch's second field goal of the game came with 7:34 left to go and gave the Broncos a 62-61 lead. The team's second-leading scorer was held to four points, but did haul in a game-high 14 rebounds, helping Santa Clara maintain a 45-34 edge on the glass in the game.
A Henrik Jadersten offensive rebound and putback followed by a Feagin runner in the lane made the score 68-63 with 5:21 left.
That ended up being the last made field goal of the game for the Broncos, though they only had three field goal attempts in the final 5 minutes.
But Brownridge went 8-for-8 from the line in that stretch and Feagin was 6-for-6 in the final 3:02, while Portland was only able to hit 2 of its last 14 field goal attempts.
"Jared and KJ stepped up when they had to from the free-throw line, especially going 26 for 27," Keating said.
Brownridge, who was just 4-for-11 from the floor, was fouled coming off a screen and hit both free throws to make it 76-71 with 1:10 left.
Wintering was fouled and hit both free throws to cut the deficit to 3 with 59 seconds left.
Brownridge was again fouled, this time going to the basket, with 36.6 left and hit both at the line for a 78-73 lead.
After Wintering made one free throw with 13.8 seconds left, Feagin was fouled on the inbounds play, nailing both free throws for an 82-74 lead.
On the ensuing possession, Kratch ended up fouling D'Marques Tyson on a 3-point attempt. He hit all three free throws and the Pilots got the ball back following a turnover on the inbounds play down five, but Wintering missed a 3-pointer from the left wing.
"Fortunately, we had enough cushion to hold on and get the win," Keating said.
The Pilots entered the game as the second-best 3-point shooting team (38.8 percent) in the league, with the third-most made 3-pointers (162) in the nation. They hit 9 of 28 (32 percent) in the game.
Tyson and Gabe Taylor each scored 12 points for the Pilots, who turned the ball over only six times compared to 16 for the Broncos.
Feagin scored in double figures for the third-straight game and fifth time in the last eight. He also played a game-high 37 minutes.
"He's one of the youngest kids on this campus but he's starting to learn," Keating said. "I think he's a proven winner. He has it in him. He's coming along real nice. He's helping us now."
The game was close right from the beginning with 11 lead changes and 10 ties in the first half.
A 9-0 run by Santa Clara capped by Matt Hubbard's layup made it 24-19 with 11:20 left in the opening half, but the Pilots answered by scoring 11 of the next 13 points to grab a 25-24 lead. Neither team led by more than three points the rest of the half.
"I'm proud of our guys for sticking through it," Keating said. "We're 1-0 today which is the most important thing."
The Broncos head on the road for the next two games, playing BYU Thursday (8 p.m.) and San Diego Saturday (7 p.m.)
Notes: Jared Brownridge (23 points) moved from a tie for 18th to 16th on the school's career scoring list. He now has 1,403 career points, passing Mike Gervasoni (1,393/1964-67) and Nick Vanos (1,399/1981-85) … this was the first game in school history two Bronco players made at least 13 free throws. Brownridge was 13-for-13 and KJ Feagin 13 of 14. Brownridge is the fifth Santa Clara player on record to be perfect from the line in Leavey Center with at least 10 attempts. The last was Steve Nash who made all 21 of his attempts (a school record) vs. Saint Mary's on Jan. 7, 1995 … Emmannuel Ndumanya, starting his second-straight game, scored a season-high six points … Matt Hauser (10 points) hit double figures for the second time in three games and is averaging 9.7 points in that span … Jarvis Pugh, who returned against Saint Mary's (Dec. 23) after missing seven games with a knee injury, was not able to play the last two games … the Broncos improved to 59-33 in the all-time series with Portland, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Pilots.
