Men’s Basketball Rolls Past Mississippi Valley State 100-71 on Friday

Men's Basketball

Final	1	2	T
Mississippi Val. (0-11)	27	44	71
Santa Clara (12-2)	44	56	100

Game Leaders

Mississippi Val.

Pts: Caleb Hunter - 26

Reb: Brandon Kimble - 7

Ast: Michael Green - 4

Santa Clara

Pts: Trey Wertz - 28

Reb: DJ Mitchell - 8

Ast: Jalen Williams - 6

Team Stats

Mississippi Val.

Santa Clara

Field Goals

(29-68)

(38-72)

Field Goal %

42.6%

52.8%

Rebounds

Assists

Turnovers

Pts off Turnovers

2nd Chance Pts

Pts in the Paint

Fastbreak Pts

Bench Pts

full stats

Posted: Dec 20, 2019

AUDIO: Thompson Halftime Interview on KDOW-AM-1220

SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball will enter the holidays on a high note after setting the school record for consecutive home wins to start a season.

Santa Clara (12-2) handily beat Mississippi Valley State, 100-71, behind the hot-shooting Trey Wertz and Jalen Williams who combined to go 18-for-23, for its 12th straight home win to start the season.

The Broncos also tied the record for consecutive wins in Leavey Center at 14.

Wertz's season-high 28 points led a quartet of Broncos in double figures. The sophomore guard went 11-for-14 from the floor, including 6 of 8 from behind the 3-point line. Williams shot 7-for-9 and set career-highs with 19 points and seven rebounds. Josip Vrankic added 13 points, making all five of his field goal attempts, and Guglielmo Caruso tallied 10 points.

Mississippi Valley State (0-11) was paced by Caleb Hunter and Michael Green, the only two in double figures, with 26 and 20 points, respectively.

For the game, Santa Clara shot 53 percent on a season-high 72 field goal attempts and made 14 3-pointers while outrebounding Mississippi Valley State 45-30, led by DJ Mitchell with eight.

Wertz scored 18 of his points in the second half as the Broncos continued where they left off in the opening 20 minutes by outscoring the Delta Devils 36-13 to push out their lead to as many 40 points.

The Broncos started the game slow, tied at 12-all after 8 minutes, but Williams exploded, scoring 16 points in the opening half by connecting on his first six shots from the floor, including three 3-pointers.

Santa Clara used a 22-6 run to build 37-20 lead and led 44-27 at intermission.

RECORD-SETTING WIN
• Santa Clara set the school record (12) for consecutive home wins to start a season. The Broncos won all 11 home games in 1967-68 and were victorious in the first 11 the following season.
• The Broncos matched the school's all-time record for consecutive wins (14) in Toso Pavilion/Leavey Center, which opened for the 1975-76 season. Santa Clara has not lost at home since a 66-55 defeat to Saint Mary's (Feb. 14, 2019). The original record began with a 79-72 win over Marquette (Dec. 29, 1996) and ended with an 85-75 loss to San Francisco (Jan. 25, 1998). The school record for consecutive home wins is 22 which occurred between the 1967-68 and 1968-69 seasons.

IMPRESSIVE START
Santa Clara has matched its best start since the 1977-78 season and opened 12-2 or better for only the second time in the last 51 years. The Broncos started a school-record 21-0 in 1968-69 on the way to a 27-2 mark and a trip to the NCAAs.

HIGHLIGHTS | One last treat from the #SCUBroncos before the holiday break - a victory over Mississippi Valley State! #TeamFirst #StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/bsmRHkbS9v
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) December 21, 2019

NOTES
• The Broncos lead the all-time series 3-0 against the Delta Devils of the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
• Santa Clara has won 18 of its last 19, including 16 straight, nonconference home games. The lone loss in that stretch was to Idaho State last season.
• In addition to career-bests in points (18) and rebounds (seven), Jalen Williams had career-highs in assists (six) and steals (three) with no turnovers.
• Trey Wertz had career-highs in field goals (11) and 3-pointers (six). His 28 points were the most by a Santa Clara player this season (25 by Guglielmo Caruso vs. San Jose State, Dec. 18).
• Santa Clara matched its season-high in blocked shots with six. The Broncos had three other games with that same total and entered the game second in the West Coast Conference in that category with 4.1 per contest.

INTERVIEW | In the postgame interview presented by @ROATweets, head coach @HerbSendek discusses the win over @MVSUDevilSports.#TeamFirst | #StampedeAhead | #WCCHoops pic.twitter.com/YJqdJRlxnY
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) December 21, 2019

NEXT UP
The Broncos play the fifth game of the season-long six-game homestand after a holiday break when they face Alcorn State on Dec. 29. Tipoff set for 2 p.m. at the Leavey Center.