Feb. 12, 2005

Box Score

By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) - Brody Angley hit an off-balance 10-foot jumper with 2.4 seconds left and Kyle Bailey scored nine straight points in the final 3:14, lifting Santa Clara to a 78-76 victory over Saint Mary's on Friday night. Daniel Kickert missed a running 12-footer at the buzzer,knocking the Gaels out of a first-place tie with 14th-ranked Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference standings. Kickert scored a career-high 30 points in the loss to the Broncos

The Gaels (20-7, 7-3 WCC) had hoped to avenge a 23-point loss to the Broncos from Jan. 15, but Bailey wouldn't allow it.

He finished with 14 points, five assists and four rebounds, and Doron Perkins had 22 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals as the third-place Broncos (13-12, 6-4 WCC) gained a game on the Gaels.

After E.J. Rowland tied the game at 76 with 35.2 seconds left, Santa Clara got the ball back at midcourt with 14 seconds to go and found Brody.

There were six ties in final 4:20 and points on six consecutive possessions over the last 2:04.

After Travis Niesen made it 76-74 with 45.5 seconds left, Rowland hit a short jumper in the paint moments later - he scored 10 of his 17 points in the final 9:02.

This has to feel good for Santa Clara after it lost last season's meetings by 32 and 30 points. The Broncos - who gained national attention after shocking second-ranked North Carolina in November - came out inspired in the second half before a near-capacity crowd in the Leavey Center, the site of next month's conference tournament.

After Paul Marigney's 17-footer gave the Gaels a 67-65 lead with 3:32 left, Bailey tied it on the other end. Kickert hit a 3 moments later for Saint Mary's and Bailey again came up huge with a 3 to make it 70-all at 2:36.

The Gaels were coming off a tough road trip to the Northwest in which they lost to Gonzaga by five and survived a scare at Portland to beat the Pilots 73-72 on Rowland's 8-foot jumper with 11 seconds left.

Santa Clara used an 8-1 spurt early in the second half to take a 46-42 lead, while Saint Mary's went cold from the floor and missed four straight shots. Ethan Rohde's 3 with 14:28 to go made it 52-46, then the Broncos scored four more unanswered points for a 10-point lead. Saint Mary's later had a 10-2 run to pull within 63-60, but the Gaels were sloppy with the ball.

Kickert scored 17 of his points in the first half, making all three of his 3-point tries, and Frederic Adjiwanou had 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Saint Mary's leading scorer Marigney, averaging 14.9 points per game, took only three shots in the first half and scored four points before the break. He was tentative and appeared disengaged for much of the game, finishing with only eight points on 2-for-7 shooting - including 0-of-4 from long range.

Saint Mary's will return to WCC action on Thursday, Feb. 17 when the Gaels host the LMU Lions at 7:05 p.m. in McKeon Pavilion.