Basketball Recap: Santa Clara Takes a Loss

Santa Clara lost against St. Bonaventure back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Santa Clara Saints were dealt a 92-65 defeat at the hands of the St. Bonaventure Seraphs. While losing is never fun, the Saints can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 1012th, while the Seraphs are ranked 178th).

When it comes to explaining why Santa Clara lost, don't look at Jj Ward. Despite the final result, he dropped a double-double on 26 points and ten rebounds. That was a full 40% of Santa Clara's points, marking the third time in a row he's posted more than a third of the team's points. Gio Gude was another key player, putting up 14 points in addition to six boards and five assists.

St. Bonaventure's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Mathew Wilson led the charge by going 15 of 25 on his way to 39 points and eight rebounds. Wilson's evening made it five games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. Another player making a difference was Charlie Adams, who went 9 for 14 en route to 23 points and five boards.

Santa Clara has been struggling recently as they've lost six of their last eight contests, which is still a better percentage than their 5-21 record this season. Those losses can't be blamed on the team's offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 54.1 points per game. As for St. Bonaventure, they pushed their record up to 21-6 with the victory, which was their 20th straight at home dating back to last season.

Santa Clara didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 66-50 win against Dunn on the 3rd. St. Bonaventure has also already played their next game, a 75-56 victory against Santa Clara on the 5th.