Great Osobor had a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds as Washington took control midway through the first half and held off Santa Clara 76-69 on Friday afternoon in the Acrisure Invitational championship game in Palm Desert, Calif.
The Huskies (6-1) led by nine at halftime and by 13 with nine minutes left. Santa Clara culled its deficit to 63-58 with 7:19 to play via an 8-0 run that was started and capped by layups by Elijah Mahi.
Washington responded with a 3-pointer by DJ Davis and a pair of free throws from Zoom Diallo to boost the lead back to 10 with 4:13 remaining. Santa Clara made a late push, trimming the margin to three on a pair of free throws by Mahi with 11 seconds left before the Huskies’ Tyler Harris clinched the win with two free throws a second later.
Diallo added 15 points and Davis had 13 as the Huskies won their fifth straight game.
Carlos Stewart led all scorers with 20 points while Mahi added 19 points and seven boards for the Broncos (3-5).
The game went back and forth over the first eight minutes before the Huskies got a layup by Osobor and 3-pointers from Mekhi Mason and Davis, the latter at the 9:41 mark, to go up 23-14. Santa Clara got within three with 7:32 left in the first half on two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws by Stewart.
The rest of the half belonged to Washington, which built its advantage back to nine on four occasions before pushing it to 42-30, thanks to Osobor’s three-point play before a free throw with 1:04 remaining. Stewart’s 3-pointer just before the buzzer trimmed the Huskies’ lead to 42-33 at the break.
Stewart led all scorers with 11 points before halftime while Osobor and Diallo paced Washington with 10 points each.
The Broncos pulled to within 46-42 on a 3-pointer by Mahi 3 1/2 minutes into the second half. But Washington swung back, building its advantage to 13 when Osobor hit a layup with 9:16 to play as part of a 9-3 run.
–Field Level Media
