Broncos Catch Fire to Down Alcorn

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – A scorching hot shooting night from Santa Clara resulted in a 92-57 final over the Alcorn State University men's basketball program Sunday at the Leavey Center.
 
Santa Clara (13-2) shot an astounding 16-for-23 (.696) from three-point range. The Broncos were 10-for-14 from beyond-the-arc in the first half to build a big lead, and continued to shoot 6-for-9 in the second half to keep the foot on the gas.
 
Seniors Maurice Howard and Corey Tillery led Alcorn (4-7) for 11 points apiece. Junior Troymain Crosby registered 10 points and a team-high five rebounds. Freshman Dominic Brewton netted a career-high eight points off the bench.
 
The Braves held a 13-9 edge in offensive rebounding, and outscored the Broncos 16-7 in second chance points. Tillery grabbed three offensive boards.
 
Alcorn submitted a 10-for-12 (.833) clip from the free throw line. Crosby was 4-for-4, while Tillery was 3-for-3.
 
Santa Clara improved to 13-0 at home this year and was paced by Keshawn Justice's 24 points, including a 6-for-8 mark from long distance. Trey Wertz scored 17 points and finished 5-for-6 from three.
 
The Braves will begin conference play with a trip to Prairie View A&M at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4. Alcorn's first SWAC home game is Saturday, Jan. 11 when it hosts Jackson State at 5:30 p.m. at the Davey L. Whitney Complex.
 
NOTES
- It was the third meeting between the two programs and the first under head coach Montez Robinson. The last game came in 2012-13 under Luther Riley.
 
- Howard tallied his 51st career double-figure scoring game and seventh in a row. He's up to 1,102 career points.
 
- Tillery notched his eighth double-digit scoring performance of the season and fourth in a row. He's shooting 13-for-30 (.433) from beyond-the-arc over the last four games.
 
- Crosby recorded his 34th career double-figure scoring game and seventh this year. He matched his career-high with three steals.
 
- It was the first game in nine days for Alcorn, which took off for the holidays.
 
Quoting Alcorn head coach Montez Robinson
Opening Statement
"Santa Clara did a great job of making the extra pass, getting our defense moving and then making the shot. They did the things that we're normally doing in making shots and making the defense rotate around. Though, to shoot the ball the way they did – that was a first for me to see. To go 16-for-23 from three - they obviously shot it really well. We tried a lot of mixtures on defense, switching the way we played but they always found an open guy. We can definitely learn from the film from this game."
 
On whether he felt Santa Clara's threes were contested shots
"It was a little bit of both. We left some shooters open, but we were also closing out on them as much as we could. They made some tough shots. They made a few early, and then the rim just got really big for them. Santa Clara was on today. I have to give them credit for the way they made their shots."
 
On what he was encouraged about
"We did have some opportunities today. There was a stretch in the second half where we had four stops in a row defensively, but we just didn't capitalize. We didn't score in transition and we didn't make them pay for their turnovers. We had some chances to get the game in reach in the second half, but when you don't capitalize, it gave them more opportunities to stay far ahead. Despite the way they shot the ball, Santa Clara didn't play a perfect game, we just didn't make them pay. We're going to learn from this and grow from it."
 
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