SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara men's basketball continued to roll in their final home game of the season, defeating Pepperdine 91-82 on Thursday evening to pick up their sixth-straight victory. The Broncos' six-game win streak is their longest in conference play since winning six-straight in 2006-07 and 22 wins on the year is tied for the fifth-most in program history.
On a night where Santa Clara celebrated their seniors, it was the underclassmen that really shone with the sophomore trio of Brandin Podziemski, Carlos Stewart and Camaron Tongue combining for 55 points. Podziemski notched his third-straight and WCC-leading 11th overall double-double with 23 points and a whopping 18 rebounds, tied for his season-high, to go with four assists, a block and a steal. Tongue was equally impressive with 12 points and 10 rebounds of his own for his first-career double-double, doing so in just 15 minutes of work. Stewart was 3-for-7 from 3-point range and finished with 20 points and three steals.
Senior Parker Braun turned in his second-straight double-figure scoring night with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting while Keshawn Justice knocked down three triples for nine points and pulled down four rebounds in his final game inside the Leavey Center. Christoph Tilly continued his strong play by scoring eight points and Brenton Knapper had a very efficient night, scoring six points and dishing out five assists while not commiting a turnover.
Santa Clara (22-8, 10-5) had a relatively sluggish start to the night as they struggled to distance themselves from the Waves in the opening 20 minutes. The teams went blow-for-blow over the first period with no lead larger than two possessions for the entirety of the half. The Broncos finished with a 9-2 run over the final four minutes to take a four-point lead into the locker room at 40-36. The second half played more into SCU's favor as they hit 55.3 percent of their shots to slowly build a double-digit lead that grew to as much as 18 with just shy of seven minutes to play.
Santa Clara just edged Pepperdine in shooting at 49.3 percent to the Waves' 49.2 percent. The Broncos dominated the boards, 43-31, and dished out 19 assists for the second-straight game. They also dominated in the post, scoring 55 of their 91 points in the paint.
Pepperdine (9-20, 2-13) saw five players score in double figures led by Jan Zidek's 15 points. Maxwell Lewis and Mike Mitchell, Jr. each chipped in 14 points while freshman Jevon Porter had a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS
Coach Sendek discusses the Broncos 91-82 victory on senior night#StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/ibvyxgdv6v
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) February 24, 2023
.@Bball_Tongue picked up the first double-double of his career and joined @PassarelliVoice on the postgame show#StampedeAhead pic.twitter.com/XFReTz9nMg
— Santa Clara Men's Basketball (@SantaClaraHoops) February 24, 2023
GAME NOTES
- Justice moved up to 13th on the school's all-time scoring list, passing Hall of Famer Kenny Sears (1951-55) with 1,588 points.
- This was the first time that two Broncos scored 20 or more points since Stewart and Podziemski also achieved the feat vs. San Francisco on Feb. 4, 2023.
- It's just the second time this year that two players have tallied a double-double. The first was against Wyoming when Podziemski and Jaden Bediako did so.
