Santa Clara wins its ninth straight with an 84-72 win over Seattle

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Freshman Sash Gavalyugov scored 21 points off the bench and Santa Clara won its ninth straight game with an 84-72 victory over Seattle on Wednesday night.

The Broncos (22-5, 13-1 West Coast Conference) are off to their best start since the 1969-70 season, when they were also 22-5. The nine-game winning streak is Santa Clara’s longest since the 1994-95 season.

Announcement

Competing to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 30 years, Santa Clara tied its own record for most conference wins in a single season. The Broncos also won 13 games in conference play in the 1967-68 and ’68-69 seasons, when they won league titles and advanced to the Elite Eight.

Junseok Yeo and Brayden Maldonado each had 17 points for Seattle (15-11, 4-9).

Santa Clara, which sits atop the WCC standings having played one more game than Gonzaga (12-1), jumped out to a 17-5 lead as Allen Graves’ 3-pointer capped a 15-0 run. Graves finished with 15 points.

Seattle closed to within 25-24 on a 3 by John Christofilis with 5:49 left in the first half, but the Redhawks trailed 33-29 at halftime.

Announcement

Brenton Knapper’s layup put Santa Clara ahead 57-46 with 8:23 left. The Redhawks closed to within 76-70 with 2:54 left on Maldonado’s 3-pointer and a pair of Yeo free throws, but Seattle couldn’t get any closer.

The next step

Santa Clara hosts No. 12 Gonzaga on Saturday.

Seattle hosts Oregon State on Sunday.

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