SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball guard Carlos Stewart scored a career-high 24 points to help the Broncos shake off a slow start and hold off Portland State for a 78-75 victory on Tuesday evening inside the Leavey Center. The Broncos improved to 9-3 on the year and are now 20-5 at home in the last two seasons.
The sophomore was 7-of-13 from the field, a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line and knocked down a pair of triples in the winning effort. None of his seven made field goals were bigger than his last two. Trailing 71-70, Stewart drove hard to the basket for a lay-in to grab the one-point lead. Portland State answered on the other end of the court to grab the lead right back, but once again the Broncos turned to Stewart for their response. The Baton Rouge, La. native drove just inside the arc and knocked down what would prove to be the decisive bucket to put SCU up 74-73 with 44 seconds remaining.
On the ensuing possession, the Broncos came up with a big defensive stop with who else but Stewart taking advantage of the must-foul situation where he knocked down both free throw attempts to push the lead to three at 76-73. Portand State would score in the paint in the waning seconds to cut it back to a one-point game, but Keshawn Justice put the nail in the coffin by drawing a foul and knocking down both at the charity stripe to preserve the victory.
All five of Santa Clara's starters turned in big performances on the evening with sophomore guard Brandin Podziemski posting his fifth double-double on the year with 17 points and 10 rebounds to go with five assists and five steals. Parker Braun scored 13 for his third double-figure scoring outing on the season, pulled down seven rebounds and was 2-for-2 from distance with his second trey breaking a 67-67 tie with 4:31 to play. Justice and Jaden Bediako each turned in eight points with the former also posting three blocks and Bediako finishing just shy of a double-double by pulling down a game-high 11 rebounds.
Portland State (5-6) opened the game with a 9-0 run on three triples to deal the game's first punch and pushed their lead to as much as 12 midway through the half. The Broncos began to settle in offensively and used a 9-0 run of their own inside the final three minutes to erase the deficit completely. The Vikings then scored the final four points of the half to take a 42-38 lead into the locker room. Their lead wouldn't last long as Stewart knocked down a triple as part of an eight-point swing early in the second half to give SCU their first lead of the night.
Led by a game-high 25 points from Hunter Woods, Portland State refused to go away as they went toe-to-toe down the stretch to prevent the Broncos from building anything larger than a six-point advantage. They briefly grabbed the lead back 58-57 with 12:32 to play. Braun then knocked down his first of two triples to regain the lead, and Santa Clara would hold on to it until a Woods layup tied the game at 67.
In all, the lead would change hands five times in the final four minutes before Stewart's big shot secured the advantage for good.
The Broncos finished the game shooting 41.4 percent from the field (24-of-58), was 8-of-25 from 3-point range and a solid 22-for-27 (81.5 percent) performance at the charity stripe. They cleaned up the boards with a 44-33 advantage.
Portland State also shot 41.4 percent for the night (29-of-70) with 10 treys on 24 attempts.
It will be a quick turnaround for Santa Clara with the Broncos set to host UC Irvine for a 7:00 p.m. tip on Thursday.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
The Broncos were able to get the job done tonight with a 78-75 victory over the Vikings of Portland State. @HerbSendek joined @PassarelliVoice on the postgame show to discuss it#StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/0uLZf4QP2n
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) December 14, 2022
After scoring a career-high 24 points, including the go-ahead bucket inside the final minute, @Carlos_Stewart_ also joined the postgame show with @PassarelliVoice #StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/cuMooBYdwq
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) December 14, 2022
