Sash Gavalyugov had 23 points and six assists and Santa Clara likely wrapped up its first NCAA Tournament bid in 30 years with a 76-71 victory over No. 21 Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference semifinals on Monday night at Las Vegas.
Elijah Mahi added 19 points and seven rebounds and Allen Graves had 10 points and three steals for third-seeded Santa Clara (26-7), which is sitting on the NCAA tourney bubble.
The Broncos will face top-seeded Gonzaga for the league’s automatic bid in the championship game on Tuesday.
Paulius Murauskas recorded 26 points and eight rebounds for the second-seeded Gaels (27-5), who are solidly part of the NCAA Tournament field despite the setback.
Mikey Lewis added 23 points and Andrew McKeever produced 11 points and 11 rebounds for Saint Mary’s.
Santa Clara hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 1996, when it finished a run of three appearances in four seasons during the Steve Nash era.
Mahi knocked down a 3-pointer to give Santa Clara a 71-69 edge with 1:42 left. He added a layup with one minute remaining to give the Broncos a four-point lead.
Joshua Dent hit a jumper in the lane to bring Saint Mary’s within 73-71 with 41.5 seconds to go.
The Gaels chose not to foul, and with the shot clock winding down, Gavalyugov buried a 3-pointer from well behind the arc to give the Broncos a five-point lead with 12.1 seconds to play.
The victory was the 600th in the career of Broncos coach Herb Sendek.
Santa Clara shot 48.4% from the field, including 11 of 25 (44%) from 3-point range. The Broncos shot 58.6% (17 of 29) in the second half.
The Gaels connected on 44.4% of their shots and were 6 of 20 (30%) from behind the arc.
Saint Mary’s led by five in the second half before Santa Clara scored 13 of the next 18 points. Graves scored the final five to give the Broncos a 52-49 lead with 11:30 remaining.
The Gaels scored the next four points to inch back ahead before Santa Clara went on a 9-2 spurt. Thierry Darlan scored the last five to give the Broncos a 61-55 advantage with 7:23 left.
Graves’ three-point play pushed Santa Clara’s lead to 64-57 with 6:38 remaining. Murauskas then scored five points during a 7-0 spurt as the Gaels knotted the score with 4:33 left.
Murauskas scored 10 first-half points, and Saint Mary’s led 35-32 at the break.
