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Carlos Stewart Jr. poured in 18 points while shooting 8-for-9 from the floor to lead Santa Clara to a 69-52 win over TCU on Thursday afternoon in a first-round game in the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Desert, Calif.

The Broncos (3-4) advance to play the winner of the late first-round game between Washington and Colorado State on Friday afternoon. The Horned Frogs (4-2) will compete in the third-place game against either the Huskies or the Rams.

Elijah Mahi added 13 points for Santa Clara, while Camaron Tongue hit for 11. The Broncos outrebounded TCU 49-38 and produced 42 points in the paint.

Frankie Collins led the Horned Frogs with 15 points, and Noah Reynolds added 12. TCU went 1-for-17 on 3-point attempts.

Santa Clara led for the first 24 minutes of the game, surrendered the advantage briefly, and then took charge again with a 24-3 run over a nine-minute span that was capped by a basket from Stewart with 4:04 to play. TCU missed 14 of its 15 shots in that pivotal stretch and never recovered.

The Broncos scored the game’s first four points, and they went up 13-5 on a bucket by Mahi 4 1/2 minutes into the contest. TCU cut the deficit to two points on Reynolds’ driving layup at the 10:34 mark of the first half.

Santa Clara pushed its advantage to 34-21 after a jumper by Kosy Akametu with 3:09 to play in the half. The Horned Frogs then scored the final six points of the half, as Reynolds hit a pair of layups that sandwiched two free throws by Ernest Udeh Jr. and culled the margin to 34-27 at the break.

Stewart led all scorers with 14 points before halftime while Mahi added 11 for the Broncos. Reynolds paced TCU with 10 points as the Horned Frogs were 0-for-7 from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes of play.

TCU opened the second half with a 12-4 run capped by a 3-pointer by Collins to assume a 39-38 lead with 15:46 to play. A dunk by Udeh produced the Horned Frogs’ last lead two minutes later before the Broncos scored the next 10 points, capped by a 3-pointer from Brenton Knapper.

–Field Level Media