Santa Clara Holds Loyola to 16 in First Half and Breezes, 80-57

Mark Schmitz finished with 20 points and Santa Clara held Loyola Marymount to 16 first-half points in the Broncos’ 80-57 West Coast Conference victory Saturday night.

DeWayne Lewis added 17 points for Santa Clara, 4-4 in the WCC and 10-10 overall. The Broncos ended a seven-game home losing streak against Loyola (2-6, 7-13).

Loyola’s Zan Mason, the WCC’s scoring leader with a 17.2-point average entering the game, scored a season-low four points in 26 minutes.

“Once again we couldn’t put the ball in the basket,” Loyola Coach John Olive said. “They did a good job on us defensively and denied the ball to Zan Mason.”

It was the fewest points scored by Loyola in a conference game since the 1986-87 season.

The Lions were led by Bill Mazurie’s 17 points. Loyola failed to score a field goal during the first 6:03 while falling behind, 11-2, and was outscored, 14-4, during the final 8:20 of the half, which ended with Santa Clara ahead, 31-16.

Santa Clara finished with a 48-30 rebounding advantage, enabling the Broncos to overcome 41% shooting.