SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Jalen Williams scored 23 and Josip Vrankic added 17 points to lead Santa Clara men's basketball on Saturday afternoon against the University of San Francisco in War Memorial Gym, but unfortunately it was not enough as the Broncos were unable to tie the game on the final possession after two 3-point attempts were unsuccessful. Santa Clara fell in a hard-fought battle by both teams 88-85 to drop to 3-3 in WCC play and 13-8 overall.
It was a game of runs in the opening 20 minutes as both teams used big scoring charges to impact the game. The Broncos started red-hot and built a 20-8 advantage at the 13:25 mark after a Keshawn Justice triple. San Francisco punched back with a 19-4 run that gave them the lead at 29-24 with just under seven to play in the half, but Santa Clara had an answer as they rolled off a 10-0 run of their own to grab a 36-31 advantage. The Broncos held on the lead right up until the final posession as the Dons' Jamaree Bouyea buried a deep 3-pointer to give USF a 43-42 lead at the break.
After a cold 0-for-5 start in the second half, the Broncos began to catch fire midway through the period as the exchanged buckets with the Dons at a furious rate. Santa Clara used a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the second half at 57-53 with 10:15 remaining and went back and forth with San Francisco over the next six minutes of game time while maintaining the lead. The Dons were finally able to grab the lead with 3:48 remaining and quickly pushed their lead to five at 82-77. Josip Vrankic scored four unanswered of his own to cut that deficit back to just one point at 82-81 with 28 seconds left. From there, the Dons were able to take care of their free throws on three-straight possessions to close the door. Santa Clara had one final shot on the last possession of the night. Williams put up a 3-point attempt that was knocked around and recovered by Justice, who heaved one last unbalanced shot towards the rim but was unable to find the bottom of the net as time expired.
Justice finished with 15 points, five rebounds and five assists while PJ Pipes chipped in 12 points. Jaden Bediako also had a productive night with six points and seven rebounds. The Broncos shot 50.8 percent for the night (32-of-63) against a 48.5 percent clip from the Dons (33-of-68).
Bouyea finished with a game-high 25 points while Yauhen Massalski had a double-double of 17 points and 16 rebounds before fouling out.
Santa Clara committed a season-low six turnovers while forcing 12.
NOTES
- Jalen Williams tallied his 20th game in double-figure scoring. He's scored 10 or more in all but one game this season.
- Williams also topped 20 points for the 10th time this season.
- The Broncos had four players scored in double figures for the 14th time this season.
- PJ Pipes continued his hot start to league play with his sixth-straight double figure scoring game against WCC competition.
POSTGAME VIDEO
The thoughts of Coach Sendek after Saturday's tough loss to the Dons #StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/3wll849aQK
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) January 30, 2022
NEXT UP
- The Broncos will host Pacific on Monday evening for a 6:00 p.m. tip inside the Leavey Center.
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