Christian Hammond scored 20 points on 8-for-12 shooting, and Santa Clara held on for an 86-75 win over Minnesota in the third-place game of the Acrisure Invitational on Friday night in Palm Desert, Calif.
Elijah Mahi chipped in 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting for Santa Clara (7-1), which bounced back from a loss against St. Louis one night earlier. Brenton Knapper contributed 11 points, and three players scored 10 points apiece.
Cade Tyson scored 29 points on 8-for-16 shooting to lead Minnesota (4-4). Isaac Asuma scored 13 points and Langston Reynolds added 12 for the Golden Gophers, who lost their third straight.
Santa Clara shot 54.4 percent (31 of 57) overall and 51.6 percent (16 of 31) from 3-point range. Minnesota shot 43.6 percent (24 of 55) from the field and 29.2 percent (7 of 24) from deep.
Santa Clara sprinted to a 9-0 lead to start the game. Allen Graves and Hammond made back-to-back layups, Mahi knocked down a 3-pointer and Hammond made another layup.
Asuma finally broke the Golden Gophers’ scoreless drought when he made a 3-pointer with 17:24 to go in the first half.
Minnesota pulled within 13-8 when Bobby Durkin made a 3-pointer with 13:45 to go in the half.
Santa Clara responded with an 11-3 run to establish a 24-11 advantage 11 minutes remaining. Knapper made a 3-pointer to punctuate the run.
The Broncos increased their lead to 20 points with 6:42 to play in the half. Thierry Darlan made a 3-pointer with an assist by Hammond to make it 35-15.
By halftime, the Golden Gophers trailed 51-27. Hammond had 18 points to lead all scorers before the break.
Minnesota eventually cut into the deficit late in the second half.
Reynolds drove to the rim for a layup to pull the Golden Gophers within 55-33 with 16:19 remaining.
Santa Clara followed with seven points in a row on a jump shot by Graves, a 3-pointer by Graves and a 3-pointer by Knapper. That boosted the Broncos’ lead to 63-33 with 14:36 left.
After trailing by 31, Minnesota closed the game on a 35-15 run to trim the final deficit to 11.
