LAS VEGAS – Two familiar faces from Arizona's past struggles returned Thursday to cause more trouble, though the Wildcats survived with a 69-61 win over Santa Clara in the Las Vegas Invitational.
Santa Clara is coached by Herb Sendek, the former ASU head man who beat Sean Miller-coached Wildcat teams four times over six seasons, while its star player is still Jared Brownridge – who had 44 points against the Wildcats last season.
This time, Brownridge had 25 points, including a three-pointer that put the Broncos just a point behind UA with 4:21 to go, and Santa Clara made it difficult to the end by shooting 12 three pointers (on 31 attempts) and throwing a zone defense at the Wildcats.
Lauri Markkanen led UA with 16 points and nine rebounds, while the Wildcats made nine (of 18) three-pointers of their own.
Arizona led 37-34 at halftime and took a nine-point lead midway through the second half when Markkanen made a three-pointer. But the Wildcats couldn’t pull ahead any more.
The Wildcats were playing again without guard Allonzo Trier, who has now missed five games with an eligibility issue that UA won’t comment on.
In the first half, Brownridge had 16 points in the first half while Markkanen led UA with nine points.
The Wildcats took a 22-12 lead midway through the first half after a three-pointer from Kobi Simmons, but Santa Clara pulled back in the game with efficient offense and a 1-2-2 zone defense the Wildcats couldn’t consistently get through.
Santa Clara shot 46 percent and made half of its 10 three-pointers taken through the first 16 minutes of the half, with Brownridge heating up much as he did a year ago against the Wildcats.
Brownridge had 12 points on 4-for-5 three-point shooting over the first 16 minutes. He hit three-pointers to pull Santa Clara within 25-22 and then another to tie the game at 25, and the game remained close the rest of the half.
Arizona will now face Butler at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational’s high-major bracket. Santa Clara will face Vanderbilt at 6 p.m.
Butler beat Vanderbilt 76-66 earlier Thursday at the Orleans Arena.
