Santa Clara, CA—The Santa Clara Broncos Men's Basketball Team scored 23 of the first 30 points, Tuesday evening, leading wire to wire in a 77-53 victory over visiting UC Riverside.

The Highlanders (1-5) climbed back into the game steadily throughout the first half, and Brandon Rosser's pair of free throws at the start of the second made it a three-point ballgame, 37-34. Unfortunately Santa Clara countered with a 14-2 run and led by double digits the rest of the way.

The Broncos (5-6) jumped out to their early 23-7 lead by making nine of their first 14 shots from the floor, and four of their first five three-pointers. The entire team got into the act as six different players scored during the opening run with Henrik Jadersten leading the way with six points.

Meanwhile the Highlanders struggled to get into the flow offensively, opening the game by going four for 13 from the field, and committing three turnovers.

UC Riverside scored the next nine points of the game, however, slicing the Broncos lead to seven, 23-16. Matt Hauser ended the UCR run making one of two free throws, and he drained a three from the top of the key on Santa Clara's next possession to push the lead back to double digits.

The Highlanders battled back though, as the Broncos made just four of their final 13 shots from the field in the period, and UCR trailed by just five at the intermission, 37-32.

Hauser led all scorers at the break with nine points, while Jadersten added eight for the Broncos. Gentrey Thomas paced UC Riverside with seven points, and Brandon Rosser added six as eight different Highlanders dented the scoring column.

Points were hard to come by early in the second half for both teams, as the Highlanders missed nine of their first 10 shots, and the Broncos misfired on six of nine. Rosser's free throws made it a three-point game, but Santa Clara countered with a 14-2 run to make it 51-36. The Broncos extended their lead to as many as 27 in the second en route to the 24-point victory.

The Highlanders made just 32-percent of their shots on the night, including 28 percent in the second half, while Santa Clara connected on 47.3 percent of its shots including  44.4 percent from long range.

Turnovers played a key role in the game as the UC Riverside committed 11 on the night, and the Broncos turned them into 19 points.

Two members of the Broncos had double-doubles with Hauser scoring 18 points and handing out 10 assists, and Kai Healey adding 10 points and 10 boards. Secean Johnson led the Highlanders with 10 points.

UC Riverside returns to the Inland Empire Saturday, December 17 for just its second home game of the season—a 5 pm PT tip vs. Montana.