Pacific Wins 71-65 at Santa Clara

Dec. 12, 2007

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -- The Pacific men's basketball team improved to 7-3 with a 71-65 win at Santa Clara on Wednesday, Dec. 12. The Broncos fell to 6-3 with the loss.

In the first half, the Tigers used an 8-0 run to take a 12-6 lead with 13:04 left, fueled by three-pointers from sophomore Casey Neimeyer (Woodland, Calif.) and junior Chad Troyer (Seattle, Wash.). Over the next seven minutes, the Broncos came back to take a 21-20 lead, outscoring the Tigers 15-8 in that span. The Tigers responded again, with sophomore C.J. Morgan (Elk Grove, Calif.) hitting a three-pointer with :40 seconds remaining in the first frame to give Pacific a 29-25 lead heading into the break.

After an early second half run brought Santa Clara back to within one point (38-37), the Tigers outscored the Broncos 15-4 over the next five minutes to take a 53-41 lead with 10:02 left in the game. Pacific increased the lead to 64-50 with 5:34 left after a layup by Troyer. Santa Clara then battled back, outscoring the Tigers 12-2 to cut the lead to 66-62 with :57 seconds left in the game. Juniors Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) and Michael Kirby (North Highlands, Calif.) each hit a pair of free throws to keep the lead at six with the Broncos scoring on two layups. After Mitch Henke hit one of two free throws with :41 seconds left, Brown matched him to take the lead back to 71-65 with :25 seconds remaining. The Broncos missed three three-pointers in the final seconds as the Tigers held on for the win.

The Tigers held Santa Clara to 38.9% shooting from the field. The Broncos came in with a 54.1% overall field goal percentage, leading the nation. Pacific shot 47.8% from the field, and 50.0% from three-point range. It was the Tigers' first win at Santa Clara since 2001.

Brown led the Tigers with 15 points and nine rebounds. Troyer added 11 points, while Johnson scored nine.

Henke led the Broncos with 21 points.

Pacific is next in action with a home game against Montana on Saturday, Dec. 15 at 7:00 p.m. in the Alex G. Spanos Center.

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