Dec. 20, 2008
STOCKTON, Calif. -- - Santa Clara fell to 5-6 with a 63-57 loss to Pacific, 6-3, in Stockton on Saturday night. The Broncos host Stanford at 8 pm on Tues., Dec. 23 in an ESPNU televised contest.
John Bryant led the Broncos with 17 points and eight rebounds, including hitting 7 of 7 from the free throw line. The Broncos shot 37.2%, their worst shooting percentage of the season. Pacific shot 47.7% and were led by the 10 points of both Anthony Brown and James Doran. Santa Clara turned the ball over just 10 times, matching its season-low for the third time this year.
The Broncos were without three players as Troy Alexander played just two minutes of the first half due to his sore left shoulder; and Ben Dowdell (left hand) and Marc Trasolini (back) were also sidelined with injuries.
Santa Clara jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first three minutes of play before Pacific went on a 9-0 run to take a 9-5 lead at 13:28 on two Terrell Smith free throws.
The two teams were knotted up at 11 and then Pacific went cold from the field, not making a field goal from 11:46 to 3:05. During that span Santa Clara went on a 9-2 run highlighted by James Rahon's three pointer and a three-point play by Kevin Foster.
After the flurry of scoring by the Broncos, the Tigers seemed to find their stroke, hitting a basket at 4:20 and ending the half on a 14-2 run, taking a 27-20 lead to the lockerroom at halftime. Santa Clara shot 35% in the first half to Pacific's own 45%. Kevin Foster led all scorers with seven points in the first half and James Rahon scored six.
In the second half, Santa Clara got within three at 17:37. Pacific went up 37-32 at 13:00 and then Santa Clara again pulled within three at 12:30 on two Bryant free throws.
Santa Clara made 19 of 23 free throws, including 16-18 in the second half.
Down 43-47 at 6:55, Pacific pulled away with a 8-2 run the next minute and a half to begin to put the game away.
