Nov. 29, 2007
CHENEY, Wash. (AP) -Mitch Henke scored 20 points and Santa Clara used made free throws down the stretch to hold off Eastern Washington 66-57 on Thursday night.
Henke hit four foul shots in the final minute for the Broncos (5-1), who led by as many as 16 points in the second half against the Eagles (2-6).
Milan Stanojevic made five 3-pointers and finished with 15 points for the Eagles.
With Santa Clara holding a five-point halftime lead, Henke scored the first eight points of a 10-0 run to start the second half, giving the West Coast Conference Broncos a 41-26 edge.
Eastern Washington pulled to within eight points on several occasions, and got as close as 64-57 on Trey Gross' 3-pointer with 35 seconds left.
Santa Clara took a 16-6 lead, getting eight points from John Bryant while limiting the Big Sky Conference Eagles to 2-of-12 shooting. But the Eagles rallied behind Stanojevic, who hit three 3-pointers, and tied the score at 21 on Brandon Moore's jump hook with three minutes left in the half.
Brody Angley scored 15 points for Santa Clara. Bryant, a 6-foot-10, 305-pound center who entered the game averaging 23.6 points for the Broncos, finished with 14.
Santa Clara hit 21-of-39 from the field to offset 19 turnovers.
Matthew Brunell had 12 points and Gross 10 for Eastern Washington, which was outrebounded 33-19.
Santa Clara is now 4-1 on its current seven-game road trip and play at Utah State on Saturday, Dec. 1 at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The game tips off at 6 p.m. PT and fans can catch all the action on 1220 KNTS and SantaClaraBroncos.com.
