SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Santa Clara Broncos caught fire offensively and handed the Portland Pilots a 70-42 loss in West Coast Conference basketball action Thursday night at the Leavey Center. Santa Clara drilled 14 three-pointers in dealing the Pilots their first loss of the conference season.

The Pilots (9-6, 2-1 WCC) were led by sophomore guard Jazz Johnson with 19 points as he has reached double figures in all 15 games this season.

Portland struggled to get into a rhythm offensively all night. The team shot 30 percent for the game and made just one field goal in the final 16 minutes of regulation.

The Broncos (8-8, 2-1) overcame a sluggish start and shot 48 percent from the field, including 14-of-32 from beyond the arc.

Santa Clara was trailing 18-9 midway through the first half, but the Broncos drilled their final seven three-pointers of the period and closed the half on a 20-2 run to take a 34-22 lead at the break.

The margin continued to grow throughout the second half as Santa Clara continued to find the range with six second half three-pointers.

Turnovers were also a factor as the Broncos gained a 24-7 edge in points off of turnovers. The Pilots turned it over 17 times compared to just six for Santa Clara.

Portland held SCU leading scorer Jared Brownridge to eight points on the night, but the senior joined the 2,000-point scoring club for his career.

Kai Healy scored a career-high 19 points off the bench for the Broncos, while KJ Feagin added 17.

The Pilots held a 34-27 rebounding margin for the game.

The Pilots will return home to the Chiles Center to host the No. 4 Gonzaga Bulldogs in a sold out game on Saturday at 7 p.m. The contest will be televised live on ROOT Sports Northwest, ROOT Rocky Mountain, CSN+, ROOT Southwest and ESPN3. Radio coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. on 910 ESPN-Portland (KMTT). Tickets for all other Pilot home games are available online at PortlandPilots.com/Tickets.