The Santa Clara Broncos dropped to 0-13 in conference play on Thursday as they lost a fairly non-descript 73-62 contest to the Gonzaga Bulldogs. The Broncos season-long struggles continued as they could not capitalize on an early lead. Santa Clara held a brief lead eight minutes in, but Gonzaga took a 13-11 lead and never really looked back. Gonzaga never took too big a lead, but there was never a significant feeling of concern for the Bulldogs.
Santa Clara was led by guard Evan Roquemore, who scored 21 points and dished out six assists. Freshman Denzel Johnson had his most significant struggles since moving into the starting lineup. After four straight games of 17+ points, Johnson scored 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Given his recent run of success, the next test for him is to see how he rebounds following these struggles.
The win was huge for Gonzaga as they gained a much needed game on Saint Mary's. The Gaels were beaten by Loyola Marymount on Wednesday, and this Gonzaga win evened the Bulldogs and Gaels in the loss column with two apiece. However, Gonzaga has two extra WCC contests remaining. The Bulldogs will travel to San Francisco on Saturday before hosting BYU on Thursday in the biggest remaining WCC contest. They will follow that up with their WCC finale at San Diego.