Santa Clara hangs on to beat Portland 76-68

Dec 30, 2013, 08:48 pm

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Evan Roquemore, Brandon Clark and Jared Brownridge each scored 20 for Santa Clara in a 76-68 victory at Portland Monday.

Santa Clara (8-7, 1-1 West Coast Conference) scored 12 straight points to build a 52-37 lead with 13:17 left in the game.

Portland (8-6, 0-2) later answered with a 9-0 run to close the gap to 55-52 and Thomas van der Mars' three-point play kept them within 58-55. But Santa Clara answered with a 10-3 run and made eight free throws in the final 2 minutes.

The Broncos shot 12 of 23 from 3-point range and Roquemore was 5 of 7 from long distance. His back-to-back 3s in the first half gave Santa Clara the lead for good at 28-24.

Portland out-rebounded Santa Clara 43-27.

Van der Mars led the Pilots with 23 points and Kevin Bailey added 19. Ryan Nicholas had 12 points and 13 rebounds.