BYU Cougars

Mika, BYU cruise past Santa Clara 89-59 (Dec 29, 2016)

Published Dec. 29, 2016 11:54 p.m. ET

PROVO, Utah (AP) Eric Mika had 19 points and nine rebounds on Thursday night and BYU opened its West Coast Conference season with an 89-59 win over Santa Clara.

TJ Haws added 17 points, six rebounds and six assists and Steven Beo scored a career-high 12 points. Each made all three of his 3-point attempts and the Cougars (10-4) hit 9 of 14 from long range.

BYU never trailed, led by as many as 23 in the first half on the way to 44-26 lead at the break and had its largest lead at 84-49 with 3:28 left.

The Broncos (6-8) made just 1 of 11 attempts from 3-point range after halftime and finished 7 of 31 for the game.

Nate Kratch had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead Santa Clara. Jared Brownridge entered the game as the conference's fourth-leading scorer (19.2 ppg) but was held to eight points.