MBK | Gaels Drop Heartbreaker At Santa Clara
3/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SANTA CLARA -- Santa Clara's Jared Brownridge scored with 7 seconds left in regulation to hand Santa Clara a come-from-behind 71-70 victory over Saint Mary's in the regular season finale for both teams Saturday at the Leavey Center.
Senior Kerry Carter led the Gaels with 19 points, while classmate Garrett Jackson added 13 and redshirt freshman Calvin Hermanson set a career-best with 12 points, which included a 3-for 3 performance from the field and 4-for-4 from the free throw line.
The loss gives Saint Mary's a 21-8 overall record and concludes the regular season with a 13-4 mark. Thursday's win at San Francisco clinched a share of second place in the West Coast Conference standings for the Gaels. But, BYU's upset victory at Gonzaga handed the Cougars the tournament's number two seed.
Saint Mary's will be the third seed and will play sixth seeded Portland at 12 noon Saturday in the WCC Championships quarterfinals in the Orleans Arena.
SCU's Brandon Clark led all scorers with 21 points, while Brownridge and teammate Denzel Johnson added 17 apiece. The Broncos improve to 13-17 overall and 7-11 in league play.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first half, both went into the locker room with field goal percentages under 30 percent.
But, both teams found success on the offensive end during the final 20 minutes. Saint Mary's went a sizzling 9-of-16 from behind the 3-point arc during the second period for 56.3 percent. Most of that was due to the hot shooting of Hermanson and classmate Emmett Naar,who combined for a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
With Santa Clara leading 25-24 at halftime, the two teams battled evenly throughout the second period. The two teams combined for 10 ties and neither team led by more than four points during the last 20 minutes.
Tied at 67-apiece with 2:06 left on the clock, SMC's Aaron Bright connected on a 3-pointer to give Saint Mary's a 70-67 lead. A minute later, he fouled out and Clark made both free throws to pull the Broncos within one point at 70-69.
SMC's Brad Waldow and Desmond Simmons missed consecutive shots from close-range and SCU gained possession with :22 seconds left.
Brownridge drove to the basket and connected on a high arcing shot off the backboard with :07 seconds left to give Santa Clara its first lead since the 6:09 mark.
Jackson attempted a 3-pointer from the left wing at the buzzer but it bounced off the front of the rim as time expired.
Both teams return to action next week at the annual WCC Championships at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Pairings and game times will be announced by the league office and can be found by clicking here.
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