SANTA CLARA, Calif. – BYU rode the hot shooting of guards Nick Emery and Chase Fischer to a 96-62 victory over the Santa Clara men's basketball team in a Saturday afternoon West Coast Conference contest.
Emery scored a game-high 31 points and Fischer added 22 for the Cougars (19-8, 10-4) who shot 58 percent from the field, including 6 of 13 from behind the 3-point line, to claim their fourth win in the last five games.
BYU's All-America candidate Kyle Collinsworth had a relatively quiet 15 points on 7 of 9 shooting, but did chip in eight assists and seven rebounds.
Jared Brownridge had a team-high 16 points and KJ Feagin scored 14 for the Broncos (9-17, 5-9), who were unable to overcome a poor shooting performance. Santa Clara only shot 31 percent from the floor, including 6 of 28 on 3-pointers, against the Cougars' aggressive 1-3-1 zone.
The Broncos cut a 22-point deficit to 55-41 with 18:27 left on a jumper by Matt Hubbard, but the Cougars went on a 17-4 run during the next 4 minutes to put the game out of reach.
Emery (13 of 21) and Fischer (6 of 9) combined to shoot for 19-for-30 from the floor. Fischer also had six assists and just one turnover.
Less than two days ago, Emery scored a freshman school-record 37 points in a 114-89 win at San Francisco.
Brownridge and Nate Kratch were saddled with foul trouble in the first half and combined to play just 18 minutes.
The Cougars shot a blistering 70 percent from the field (19 of 27) in the opening 20 minutes and the Broncos went nearly 13 minutes without a field goal.
Two free throws by Brownridge cut a 12-point deficit to 33-25 with 6:05 left in the first half, but the Cougars scored 10 of the next 12 points with Fischer and Emery providing the exclamation point with back-to-back 3-pointers.
Emery (18) and Fischer (15) tallied 33 points on 11 of 15 from the floor in the opening 20 minutes.
Santa Clara hit six of its first 13 from the floor, but just two of the next 17. Kai Healy's layup with 13:02 left in the first half tied the score at 19-all, but the Broncos didn't hit another field goal until Matt Hauser's 3-pointer with 6 seconds left.
Hauser scored 10 points in the game, but Kratch was held to six in only 16 minutes of action.
Emmanuel Ndumanya posted a game-high 10 rebounds for the Broncos, who hit the road next week, playing at Loyola Marymount Thursday (7 p.m.) and Pepperdine Saturday (5 p.m.).
Notes: The 2005 Santa Clara volleyball team, which advanced to the NCAA semifinals, was recognized at halftime. The team had a reunion this weekend … with 16 points, Jared Brownridge (1,589) moved from 12th to 11th on the school's career scoring list, passing Ken Sears (1,586/1951-55). Brownridge has scored in double figures each of the last 17 games.
The BYU Series: The series began in 1951 with BYU now leading, 26-5. The Cougars have won the last 12 meetings, including all 11 since BYU joined the WCC during the 2011-12 season. The Broncos last win in the series was on Dec. 2, 1972 (66-64 in Provo, Utah) though the teams only met once (Dec. 30, 1986 in the Cable Car Classic) in a 38-year span.
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