Santa Clara Rallies Past North Texas 76-71
DENTON, TX — Thierry Darlan scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Santa Clara overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to beat North Texas 76-71 on Wednesday night.
Darlan’s layup with 2:44 remaining put the Broncos ahead 70-68, and Santa Clara held on to improve to 4-0. North Texas did not make a field goal over the final eight minutes and fell to 2-1.
Chris Tadjo added 14 points and eight rebounds for Santa Clara, and David Castillo scored 13 points, making three of four 3-point attempts. Brad Longcor III and Sash Gavalyugov each scored 10.
Ousmane Ndour led North Texas with 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting. Reece Robinson scored 15, and Cash Chavis and Je’Shawn Stevenson added 14 apiece. Chavis had six steals, while Stevenson finished with four assists.
North Texas led 41-34 at halftime and extended its advantage to 51-41 early in the second half. Santa Clara answered with an 8-1 run, and Castillo's consecutive 3-pointers later cut the deficit to 61-60 with 9:29 remaining.
Tadjo’s second-chance basket tied it at 66 with less than four minutes left. Darlan subsequently gave the Broncos the lead for good.
Fedor Zugic and Longcor each made two free throws in the final 19 seconds to seal the win.
The Mean Green scored their final five points at the free-throw line. They finished 3-for-18 from 3-point range, including 0-for-8 in the second half, and made 16 of 25 foul shots.
Santa Clara outrebounded North Texas 41-33 and held a 33-8 advantage in bench scoring. The Broncos shot 42.9% from the field and made 14 of 17 free throws. North Texas shot 46.4% and outscored Santa Clara 42-34 in the paint.
North Texas hosts South Alabama on Saturday at 5 p.m. Central. Santa Clara hosts New Mexico the same day.
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