This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Santa Clara, Calif. • The Santa Clara Broncos finally found the recipe to beat BYU in a West Coast Conference basketball game on Thursday night, ending a 17-game losing skid to the Cougars.
The Broncos made 14 3-pointers, were almost perfect from the free-throw line, and forced 18 turnovers to upset BYU 76-68 at Leavey Center.
The win as four-point underdogs moved Santa Clara into a tie for third place with BYU in the WCC, as both teams are now 6-3 in league play. The Cougars dropped to 15-7 overall after losing to a team it beat 89-59 four weeks ago at the Marriott Center.
The Broncos were 7 of 31 from 3-point range in that blowout. Thursday, they were 14 of 31 from deep, using the long ball and a slowdown attack to keep the Cougars out of rhythm on offense most of the game.
Jared Brownridge led Santa Clara with 25 points, going 4 of 10 from 3-point range, and KJ Feagin and Nate Kratch added 16 apiece. The Broncos were 16 of 18 from the free-throw line.
Eric Mika led the Cougars with 22 points, but failed to extend his streak of double-doubles past seven. He had eight rebounds.
Santa Clara led the entire second half after taking a 34-28 halftime lead.
The Cougars continued to turn the ball over well into the second half, and Santa Clara extended its lead to to 46-35 when Feagin hit a 3-pointer with 14:27 left.
Mika ended that three-minute BYU scoring drought with a dunk and Nick Emery hit a pair of free throws, but Feagin stopped that mini-run with two free throws.
With 9:24 remaining, Mika and SCU center Emmanuel Ndumanya were both assessed a foul on the same play, fouling out Ndumanya and giving Mika his fourth.
The Broncos responded better to the controversial call, as Brownridge and Feagin hit 3-pointers to extend SCU's lead to 58-45 with eight minutes remaining.
Back-to-back baskets by Yoeli Childs and Elijah Bryant gave BYU a glimmer of hope for a comeback with just more than five minutes left, trimming the deficit to eight, but Feagin hit a step-back 3-pointer to squelch the rally and Santa Clara coasted to the win.
The Cougars finished with 18 turnovers, which Santa Clara turned into 20 points.
BYU jumped to a quick 5-0 lead, but the rest of the first half belonged to the Broncos. Santa Clara made eight 3-pointers in the first half alone, on 18 attempts, to take the six-point lead at the break.
Brownridge and Kratch had 11 points apiece in the first 20 minutes, both making three 3-pointers before halftime.
Mika heated up late in the half to finish with nine points, and TJ Haws also had nine before the break before finishing with 15.
Playing with a knee contusion that limited his effectiveness, Emery hit a 3-pointer with 10:35 remaining in the first half to give the Cougars a 17-13 lead, but BYU went nearly seven minutes without a field goal after that.
Santa Clara led by as many as 10 points before the Cougars cut into the deficit late in the half.
With Brownridge, Kratch and even center Henrik Jadersten hitting 3-pointers, the Broncos went on a 13-0 run before Haws ended the BYU drought with a jumper in the lane with 3:49 remaining. Jadersten fouled out seven minutes into the second half.
Mika scored seven straight points to trim the deficit to four, but Kratch hit a jumper with 1:10 left and neither team scored in the final minute of the half.
Emery's 3-pointer, his only points of the first half, extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 31, an ongoing school record.
The biggest problem for BYU in the first half was turnovers — the Cougars had 12 in the first 20 minutes, which Santa Clara turned into 16 points. The Cougars had just four points off six Santa Clara turnovers in the first half.
The Cougars return to Provo on Saturday night to host Loyola Marymount and start a three-game homestand. Loyola Marymount downed Pacific in Los Angeles on Thursday night.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Storylines
R The home-standing Broncos snap their 17-game losing streak against BYU.
• BYU loses to Santa Clara for the first time as a member of the West Coast Conference.
• Jared Brownridge leads SCU with 25 points, while Eric Mika has 22 for BYU.