Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
PROVO, Utah (AP) - Brandon Davies scored 23 points and Noah Hartsock and Matt Carlino added 21 points apiece to help Brigham Young run away with a 95-78 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday.
Charles Abouo added 13 points for the Cougars (15-4, 4-1 West Coast Conference), who won their fourth straight conference game. Santa Clara (8-9, 0-4) remained winless in conference play despite getting 22 points from Kevin Foster and 18 points from Niyi Harrison.
BYU dominated around the basket from start to finish. The Cougars outrebounded the Broncos 40-26 and scored 50 points in the paint compared to 30 for Santa Clara.
#box
BYU used a 17-5 run early in the second half to create a cushion. Charles Abouo scored a layup to ignite the run and Davies put in a one-handed jam to bookend it and give the Cougars a commanding 64-50 lead with 14:46 remaining.
The Broncos could not close the gap to less than nine points after that decisive run. BYU handcuffed Santa Clara by shutting down Foster after halftime. The Cougars' defense allowed him to make just two baskets and held him to seven second-half points.
Santa Clara did not play like the last-place team in the WCC during the first half. The Broncos gave BYU all it could handle in the first half and made a flurry of 3-pointers to prevent the Cougars from breaking the game wide open.
After BYU staked out an early 19-12 lead, Foster buried back-to-back 3-pointers to cut it to one. Santa Clara could not quite get over the hump because of an inspired first-half performance from Davies. The junior center reeled off 10 straight points after the Broncos cut it to one to push BYU out to a 32-28 lead and had 17 points.
Raymond Cowels III hit a 3-pointer to make it a one- point game again at 32-31. The Cougars got a little bit of breathing room again when Hartsock drove for a layup and Carlino turned a steal into a 3-pointer to make it 37-31.
Santa Clara cut it back to two at 42-40 right before halftime when the Broncos made three straight baskets in a minute - capped by a jumper from John McArthur with 44 seconds remaining in the half.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
