Santa Clara men’s basketball secured its 10th consecutive home win on Wednesday evening, defeating Pacific 85-69 at the Leavey Center. The Broncos remain undefeated at home this season.
The first half saw both teams trading leads, with eight lead changes and six ties. Pacific started strong, building a nine-point lead in less than five minutes as Santa Clara struggled offensively. However, the Broncos responded with a series of scoring runs to close the gap and ultimately took a 44-42 lead into halftime after Elijah Mahi scored five unanswered points.
Both teams shot above 50 percent in the opening half, with Pacific converting on 56 percent of their shots and Santa Clara hitting 50 percent. Christian Hammond led all scorers at halftime with 14 points, followed by Mahi’s 11.
In the second half, Pacific briefly regained the lead before Hammond sparked an 18-3 run that gave Santa Clara control for good. The Broncos extended their advantage to as much as 21 points late in the game. While Pacific shot well from beyond the arc (11-of-22) and out-rebounded Santa Clara by ten boards (34-24), turnovers proved costly for the Tigers. The Broncos forced 21 turnovers—leading to 28 points—while committing just seven themselves.
Three players for Santa Clara scored at least 15 points: Hammond finished with a game-high 18 on efficient shooting (7-for-10), Allen Graves contributed 17 off the bench along with eight rebounds, three blocks, and three steals without committing a turnover, and Mahi added 15 points plus seven rebounds while going six-of-seven from the free throw line.
Graves’ performance marked his third straight game scoring at least 15 points and included a season-high three three-pointers made. Hammond reached double figures for the sixteenth time this season; it was also his eleventh game scoring at least fifteen points. Mahi tied Hammond for most double-digit scoring games on the team this year.
Santa Clara improved its record to 15-5 overall and is now unbeaten in ten home games this season—their longest such streak since winning seventeen straight across two seasons from 2018 to early 2020. The team also remained perfect when scoring eighty or more points (12-0) and recorded its thirteenth game making ten or more three-pointers this year (10-of-27). With this result, Santa Clara notched its fifth consecutive win over Pacific and now leads their all-time series, holding a record of 109 wins to 47 losses against them.
Next up for Santa Clara is a home matchup against rival Saint Mary’s on Saturday, January 17 at 4:00 p.m., which will be streamed live on ESPN+.
