March 9, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Santa Clara Broncos forward Elijah Mahi (8) makes a basketball shot against St. Mary’s Gaels guard Rory Hawke (8) during the first half at Orleans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Image Sash Gavalyugov had 23 points and six assists and Santa Clara looked to cinch its first NCAA Tournament bid in 30 years with a 76-71 win over No. 21 Saint Mary’s in the West Coast Conference semifinals Monday night in 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 sits in the NCAA Tournament bubble.
The Broncos will face top-seeded Gonzaga for the league’s automatic bid in Tuesday’s championship game.
Paulius Murauskas had 26 points and eight rebounds for the second-seeded Gaels (27-5), who despite the setback are firmly a part of the NCAA tournament field.
Mikey Lewis added 23 points and Andrew McKeever had 11 points and 11 rebounds for Saint Mary’s.
Santa Clara hasn’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1996, following three appearances in four seasons during the Steve Nash era.
Mahi hit a 3-pointer with 1:42 left to give Santa Clara a 71-69 lead. He added a layup with one minute left to give the Broncos a four-point lead.
Joshua Dent hit a jumper in the lane to put St. Mary’s up 73-71 with 41.5 seconds left.
The Gaels elected not to foul, and with the shot clock winding down, Gavalyugov buried a 3-pointer from behind the arc to give the Broncos a five-point lead with 12.1 seconds to play.
This victory is Broncos coach Herb Sendek’s 600th career victory.
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.
Gayle connected on 44.4% of his shots and was 6 of 20 (30%) from behind the arc.
Saint Mary’s led by five points in the second half and Santa Clara scored 13 of the next 18 points. Graves scored the final five goals to give the Broncos a 52-49 lead with 11:30 remaining.
The Gaels scored the next four points before Santa Clara went on a 9-2 spurt to pull back by inches. Thierry Darlan scored the final five goals to give the Broncos a 61-55 advantage with 7:23 left.
Graves’ 3-point play pushed Santa Clara’s lead to 64-57 with 6:38 left. Murauskas scored five points during a 7-0 spurt as the Gaels knotted the score with 4:33 remaining.
Murauskas scored 10 first-half points and Saint Mary’s led 35-32 at the break.
–Field level media
