WATCH | Highlights from the Victory
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara men's basketball turned to a pair of its veterans to help hold off pesky Pacific Union Saturday night.
Junior guard Jared Brownridge posted a team-high 25 points and junior forward Nate Kratch scored 24 and added a career-high 18 rebounds for his third-straight double-double, leading the Broncos to a 73-66 victory at Leavey Center.
Santa Clara (3-7) needed all of those points from its two leading scorers as the Pioneers (4-2) were led by senior guard Mike Hill who scored a game-high 34 points on 10 of 18 field goals, including 8-for-16 on 3-pointers.
The Broncos, who have won three straight, shot just 36 percent from the field in the game and went cold in the second half, hitting just 2 of their previous 20 attempts until Brownridge's driving layup with 4:52 left snapped a 59-all tie.
That bucket started a 10-0 run that sealed the game for the Broncos, who held a 50-31 rebounding edge and committed only six turnovers.
Brownridge added another driving layup to make it 63-59. After Hill missed a long 3-pointer from the right wing, KJ Feagin, who dished out a career-high seven assists, converted a fastbreak layup at other the end for an 8-point cushion. When Brownridge sank a pair of free throws with 1:37 left in the game, the lead had grown to 69-59.
Hill gave the Broncos one last scare when his final 3-pointer made it 71-66, but there were only 13 seconds left in the game.
Kratch wasn't nearly as efficient as in his previous outing when he connected on 13 of 15 field-goal attempts in last Saturday's 78-75 win against San Jose State. He was 7-for-16 from the floor, many around the basket, vs. Pacific Union, but did get to the free-throw line where he was able to convert 10 of 14 attempts.
Chris Dorsey, a 6-foot-10 freshman forward, had a hand in many of the missed opportunities for Santa Clara at the offensive end. He had only two points, but posted all 10 of Pacific Union's blocked shots and corralled five rebounds.
Dorsey's blocked shot total was the most over by a Santa Clara opposing player. Anthony Frederick of Pepperdine had nine on Jan. 24, 1985.
Pacific Union, which plays in the Cal Pac Conference of NAIA, came in as a battle-tested group having already played a pair of Division I opponents in San Jose State and Weber State.
Senior guards Jarron Crump (15) and Devon Marshall (10) also hit double figure scoring for the Pioneers, who shot 42 percent from the field, including 12-for-30 (40 percent) from the 3-point line.
Santa Clara, playing without three injured regulars and coming off a week of finals, tried to distance itself from Pacific Union in the first half, but Hill and Crump kept them close.
The Broncos led 16-8 on a Brownridge jumper, but the Pioneers scored the next nine points, including the last four by Hill. His jumper at 9:57 gave Pacific Union a 17-16 lead.
Santa Clara regained the lead with a Matt Hubbard jumper making it 22-17 with 7:39 left though Hill and Crump combined for 15 of the next 17 Pacific Union points.
Crump's 3-pointer tied the game at 34-all with 2:07 left in the first half.
After playing just one game in a 12-day span with the end of the school's quarter system winding down, the Broncos have only two days off before their next game. Arkansas Pine Bluff visits Leavey Center Tuesday, with tipoff set for 7 p.m.
Notes: The Broncos and Pioneers met for just the second time. Santa Clara downed Pacific Union, 77-42 on Dec. 8, 2012 in Leavey Center … Jared Brownridge moved from seventh to sixth on the school's career 3-point field goals made list. He has 207 and passed Evan Roquemore (2010-14) who had 205 … Brownridge also moved from 25th to 24th on the school's career scoring list. He now has 1,254 points, passing Ron Reis (1988-92) who had 1,246. Brownridge needs only four more points to move up two spots … Nate Kratch entered the game having connected on 24 of last 29 field goals attempts (82.8 percent) during the course of the previous three games … Kai Healy had his fourth-straight game with at least six rebounds ... Mike Hill's eight 3-pointers were tied for the second most ever by a Santa Clara opponent. Only Dan Dickau of Gonzaga (nine on Dec. 22, 2001) hit more in one game. Hill's 16 attempts are No. 2 on the opponent single-game list. Jeff Fryer of LMU attempted 18 on Feb. 24, 1989.
