Dec. 20, 2008
Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - In the first of two home games during the winter holiday break, the Pacific men's basketball team kept pace with Santa Clara, edging the Broncos 63-57.
The win brought Pacific to a 6-3 overall record, while Santa Clara fell to 5-6 on the season.
The Tigers fell behind early to the Broncos as Kevin Foster scored the first five points of the game. Pacific then outscored Santa Clara 9-0, to gain a 9-5 lead with 13:26 left in the first half. After the Broncos evened the game at 11-11, both teams were scoreless to the eight minute mark and the Broncos took a 14-11 lead with 6:49 left. Another layup by Foster gave Santa Clara an 18-13 lead with 4:37 remaining in the half, but the Tigers finished the first half on a 14-2 run capped by a three-pointer by senior Bryan LeDuc (Corona, Calif.) with :06 seconds left to take a 27-20 halftime lead.
Pacific sophomore Terrell Smith (Federal Way, Wash.) scored on a short jumper to give the Tigers their largest lead of the game 29-20 with 19:41 left in the game. The Broncos then scored the next six points to cut the Tiger lead to three (29-26) after a dunk by Decensae White with 17:15 left. The Tigers regained a seven point lead (33-26) after a pair of baskets from junior Joe Ford (Altadena, Calif.) and LeDuc. After the Broncos cut the lead back to 37-34 with 12:29 left, Pacific connected on three straight baskets to take a 43-34 lead with 10:06 remaining. The Tigers' lead was cut again to 47-43 with 6:55 left, but the Tigers again answered with a dunk by senior Anthony Brown (Sacramento, Calif.) and a three-pointer from Doran to take the lead back to 52-43 with 4:58 to go. Although the Tigers hit nine of 12 free throws in the final minutes, the Broncos final push got the score to 59-55 with :30 seconds left. The Tigers sealed the win going 4-for-4 at the line in the final seconds.
Brown and Doran led the Tigers with 10 points a piece, while LeDuc added nine points. Ford had eight rebounds to lead the Pacific on the boards. The Tigers out-shot Santa Clara 47.7% to 37.2%, while out-rebounding the Broncos 32-26. With LeDuc and Doran leading the way, Pacific held a 31-13 advantage in bench points.
Pacific returns to action Dec. 23, hosting Saint Mary's at 7 p.m. in the Spanos Center.
