LAS VEGAS — 40 minutes just wasn't enough Saturday.
Ancient rivals San Francisco and the Santa Clara University men's basketball team needed more.
And after four periods, 50 minutes of play, 136 shots taken and 180 points scored… it was San Francisco that emerged victorious.
The No. 6 seed Dons came from behind on multiple occasions, finally holding off the third-seeded Broncos in double overtime with a 93-87 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2023 University Credit Union West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at Orleans Arena.
Las Vegas isn't called the "Entertainment Capital of the World" for nothing. And Saturday, the Broncos (23-9) and Dons (20-13) both put on a show. The lead changed hands twice in the final 65 seconds of regulation. It changed three more times in the first overtime before Keshawn Justice hit a contested 3-pointer to tie it at 81-81 and send it to another extra period.
Four more lead changes in the second overtime gave the teams a total of nine lead swaps in the game's final 11 minutes. Carlos Stewart – who tied for the team high with 22 points – gave the Broncos the lead twice in double OT, hitting 3-pointers each time to erase one-point deficits. But Stewart's last bucket with 2:44 left would be the Broncos' last of the game. Santa Clara missed each of its final five shots – all 3-point attempts – while the Dons went 7 for 8 from the free-throw line in that final period.
Santa Clara led by double digits on five occasions during regulation, but San Francisco erased all of those deficits. The Broncos led by 10 with 5:11 remaining in the second half, and that's when USF's Khalil Shabazz woke up.
Shabazz finished with a career-high 38 points, but he only had 16 through the game's first 35 minutes. He scored each of the Dons' last 14 points of regulation, first giving USF a lead and then tying it with free throws with 13 seconds left to send it to overtime. He scored eight more in the overtime periods, hitting a 3-pointer to open the first overtime, and icing the victory with three free throws in the final 2:22 of double overtime.
Brandin Podziemski was one assist away from a triple-double, as he logged his fifth straight double-double on 22 points and 11 rebounds. He added a career-high nine assists, four steals and a block. Justice had 16 points with four 3-pointers to go with two assists and a rebound. Parker Braun flirted with a double-double at nine points and six boards, and Jaden Bediako collected a career-best six blocks to go with his six points and a steal. Eight Broncos scored at least two points for the eighth straight game.
Podziemski nearly won the game for the Broncos in regulation. He drove hard and earned the and-one with 35 seconds left in regulation, swinging the lead from a one-point USF advantage to a two-point Santa Clara lead at 74-72. But down on the other end, Shabazz tied it up with clutch free throws.
San Francisco had four double-digit scorers, led by Shabazz's career night. Tyrell Roberts scored 16 points, had five rebounds and two steals. Marcus Williams scored 13 with three rebounds and an assist. And Josh Kunen added 11 points with three 3-pointers – including the one that put the Dons up for good in double overtime with 1:40 remaining.
Santa Clara punished San Francisco pay for its turnovers all night long. They scored 25 points off of 18 USF turnovers. 13 of the Broncos' first 17 points came off of USF turnovers. Santa Clara made the Dons pay for each of their first six giveaways, scoring on every one of them. That helped Santa Clara get out to an eight-point advantage 10 minutes into the game at 17-9.
USF called a timeout after their sixth turnover and resulting SCU bucket, but that didn't slow the Broncos. The Dons missed a shot coming out of the timeout, and Podziemski went down the length of the floor and stuck a 3-pointer to put Santa Clara up 20-9.
But San Francisco wasn't going to get run out of the Orleans Arena that quickly. A minute and a half later, the Dons would put together a go-ahead 14-3 run that put them ahead, 26-25. It was their first lead since leading 4-2 three minutes after the tip.
Santa Clara started the game shooting 52.6% (10 for 19). That included 40% from beyond the arc. But the Broncos would go just 3 for 12 (25%) the rest of the first half, including 0 for 3 from deep.
The Broncos will now play the waiting game to see if a postseason tournament is in their future. Stay tuned to SantaClaraBroncos.com and @SantaClaraHoops for the latest information.
GAME NOTES
- Podziemski has 13 double-doubles on the season.
- Podziemski's four steals are tied for the most-ever by a Bronco in the WCC Tournament (Steve Nash vs. LMU, 1995, and Travis Niesen vs. Portland, 2006).
- Keshawn Justice surpassed 1,600 career points and is 13th in program history with 1,611 points.
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