SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It's March
So eventually… it was always going to turn to madness.
The Santa Clara University men's basketball team went on a torrid 20-7 run in the second half of Wednesday's first round National Invitational Tournament game versus No. 2 seed Sam Houston, erasing a 10-point deficit and taking a three-point, 53-50 lead with less than five minutes remaining.
What ensued was a litany of tie scores and lead changes in the game's final moments that eventually boiled down to one play.
The Broncos forced a miss on defense, got the rebound and had 11 seconds to tie the game or take the lead, but a missed layup and defensive rebound for Sam Houston allowed the Bearkats to escape with a 58-56 victory at Leavey Center and advance.
Jaden Bediako made two clutch free throws for the Broncos (23-10) with 63 seconds left to tie the game at 56-56. Sam Houston's Cameron Huefner only scored five points all night, but his most important two came right after Bediako's free throws, a jumper with 52 seconds remaining that gave the Bearkats (26-7) back the lead at 58-56.
Down on the other end, Santa Clara's Brenton Knapper pump-faked and had a wide-open shot for a go-ahead 3-pointer, but it bounced high off the rim and was rebounded by the Bearkats. The Broncos didn't need to foul to get the ball back, only down two and with 39 seconds remaining. Get a stop, rebound, and they had a chance.
They did just that, forcing a missed layup from Huefner, with Knapper grabbing the board to give the Broncos one last possession. The ball ended up in freshman Christoph Tilly's hands in the paint. He backed down his defender to the right, spun to the left and laid the ball off the glass, but it bounced off the front rim and was rebounded by SHSU's Qua Grant. Grant threw the ball high in the air down the court as time expired, clinching the win.
Brandin Podziemski scored a team-high 18 points and flirted with a triple-double, adding seven assists and six rebounds. Tilly scored 16 points and was two rebounds short of a double-double with eight boards. Carlos Stewart chipped in 10 points, and Keyshawn Justice hit three 3-pointers for nine points.
Grant poured in 21 points for the Bearkats. Ezeagu contributed 10 more, only missing one shot attempt (5 for 6). Sam Houston scored 15 points off of 17 Santa Clara turnovers, though the Broncos outrebounded them, 32-30 and scored 10 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds.
It was a slow start for both teams, as defense ruled the first eight minutes of the game. The Broncos and Bearkats totaled seven turnovers, 11 defensive rebounds, two steals and three blocks all in the game's first seven minutes, and it was only 7-5 Sam Houston.
Both teams' slow shooting start kept it a low-scoring affair early. By the second media timeout of the first half, Santa Clara was shooting only 2 for 14 (14.3%) and Sam Houston had only made four baskets – though three of them carried big momentum with them. Kaosi Ezeagu slammed home a back-cut dunk for the first points of the game, and two 3-pointers in three shot attempts put the Bearkats' lead at five, 10-5.
Trailing by six for the third time in the half at the 6:38 mark, the Broncos finally woke up. They made three of four shots – getting an offensive rebound on their only miss, forced a turnover, held SHU to two missed shots, and went on an 8-0 run that erased their deficit and put them ahead, 20-18.
Both teams would awake in the final five minutes of the first half from their long slumbers. Sam Houston hit five shots in a row over 2 1/2 minutes before missing one at the buzzer. Santa Clara started the night going 4 for 20 (20%) from the floor, then shot 70% (7 for 10) in the final 6 1/2 minutes of the opening period, as the Bearkats led 30-26 at halftime.
