PROVO, Utah - Yoeli Childs posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds while Elijah Bryant and TJ Hawes scored 14 apiece to help BYU pull away from Santa Clara men's basketball in the second half for an 80-58 win on Thursday.
Kai Healy led Santa Clara with a season-high 12 points with KJ Feagin and Josip Vrankic chipping in 11 each. The Broncos (8-17, 5-8) were held to just 41 percent shooting from the floor, including 8-for-26 from beyond the 3-point line
Dalton Nixon came off the bench to score 12 points in 15 minutes for the Cougars (19-7, 8-5) who shot 59 percent from the floor in the game.
BYU shared the ball by posting 22 assists on 34 baskets and registered a season-high 54 points in the paint.
Despite those numbers and the Broncos playing without three rotations players, including starting guard Matt Hauser, they pulled with 50-45 on a 3-pointer from Vrankic with 13 minutes left, but the Cougars answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Nixon and Hawes to start a 13-0 run.
The lead eventually grew to 76-51 on a jumper from Childs with less than 4 minutes left in the game. The Cougars hit nine of their last 11 attempts from the field.
"We just had a real difficult time getting stops," Santa Clara head coach Herb Sendek said of the key run. "They shot 65 percent in the second half. We had a hard time guarding them."
Childs went 9-for-14 from the floor and also had five assists. Bryant hit all three of his 3-point attempts and contributed eight rebounds and six assists.
The Broncos had a much stronger start in a venue they have struggled to produce points in recent years.
They connected on 4 of 7 from behind the 3-point line in the first 8 minutes of the game, including a pair from Henry Caruso, his second one giving Santa Clara a 16-11 lead,
But BYU went to work inside with Childs (10) and Nixon (7) combining for 17 points in the half, mostly inside where the Cougars out-scored the Broncos 30-14 in the first 20 minutes.
Hawes, normally a long-range threat, also did his damage in the paint, getting free for 10 points.
He went 6-for-11 from the floor in the game and had six assists.
NOTES
• KJ Feagin, Kai Healy, Henry Caruso, Josip Vrankic and Emmanuel Ndumanya started as a group for the fourth time this season. Healy made his fifth-straight start. Matt Hauser (foot) missed his fourth-straight game and Shaquille Walters (family matter) was not available for the third-consecutive contest. Matt Turner (ankle) also missed the game.
• The series began in 1951 and BYU now leads 30-6. The Cougars, who the first meeting this season by a score of 84-50, had their 14-game winning streak in the series snapped last year when the Broncos came away with a 76-68 victory in Santa Clara (Jan. 26). BYU owns a 14-1 series lead, including 7-0 at Marriott Center, since joining the WCC for the 2011-12 season. Prior to last year, the last victory for Broncos was a 66-64 victory in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 2, 1972.
• Henrik Jadersten played a season-high 20 minutes, scoring five points and blocking three shots. He has eight of his 10 blocks this season in the last three games.
• With the team thin at guard, Matt Jasaitis, a walk-on, came off the bench to play a career-high five minutes.
• Emmanuel Ndumanya had a career-high five assists.
NEXT UP
The Broncos play San Diego at home on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m.
QUOTES
"BYU did a great job. I really have nothing but the greatest respect for Coach Rose and the job he does year in and year out."
Head coach Herb Sendek
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