ELK GROVE, Calif. - An impressive second round helped vault Santa Clara men's golf up the leaderboard at the Sacramento State Invitational.

The Broncos fired a 6-under 282 in the second round, the second-best total in the 14-team field, to climb six spots to fourth place where they eventually finished in the two-day event at Valley Hi Country Club.

Santa Clara, which opened the season with a medal match play event last week against Stanford, had a 54-hole total of 4-over 868, including a 298 in Monday's first round and 288 in the final 18 holes on Tuesday. Second-round play was suspended due to darkness and completed prior to the third round.

"I was proud of the way the guys fought after a slow start," Santa Clara head coach Andrew Larkin said. "They worked back their way back toward the top of the leaderboard. It was nice to have the second best round two score. That speaks to character of the team."

Matt McCarty and Berk Harvey led the way for the Broncos by each finishing among the top 10. McCarty was tied for sixth at 5-under 211 (73-68-70) and Harvey was among four tied for ninth at 2-under with rounds of 71-69-74.

"I'm definitely proud of Berk and Matt for getting in top 10 in their first competition in more than one year," Larkin said.

Loyola Marymount and Long Beach State battled it out for the team title with the Lions prevailing by two strokes with a total of 24-under 840 (276-289-275). Santa Clara was six shots back of third-place Pacific.

Riley Lewis of LMU won the individual title with an 11-under 205.

Jack Avrit, Alejandro Gutierrez and Johnny Ward rounded out the Santa Clara team.

Avrit was tied for 30th at 3-over 219 (78-70-71) and Gutierrez had rounds of 76-75-73 to finish tied for 54th at 8-over.

Ward improved during his first collegiate event, culminating with a 74 on Tuesday. He was tied for 81st at 18-over 234.

All 10 members of the Santa Clara roster were in action.

Alex Conley and Zack Kaneshiro led the way among the individuals, each finishing tied for 16th. Conley shot even-par 72 all three rounds and Kaneshiro was a tournament-best 6-under on the par-4 holes to help him post 72-71-73 for an even-par 216.

Oscar Zimmerman was tied for 41st with a score of 220 (77-70-73) and Konrad Brauckmeyer tied with Gutierrez in 54th with rounds of 71-79-74. Nolan Forsman was tied for 76th with a score of 231 (78-76-77).

"It was nice to see everyone have at last one good round," Larkin said. "We have some depth and we'll be able to come up some different lineup combinations this season."

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