San Jose St. 62, Santa Clara 59

1/8/2008 12:05 AM

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) -Tim Pierce scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers, and San Jose State ended a five-year winless drought against its neighbor, beating Santa Clara 62-59 on Monday night.

DeShawn Wright scored 13 points for the Spartans (7-7), who had lost five straight to the Broncos and 10 of 11, while C.J. Webster added 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Mitch Henke scored 17 points and had a season-high 10 rebounds for Santa Clara (8-7), which lost its third in four games. John Bryant added 15 points and nine rebounds and Jonathan Gunderson had 11 points.

San Jose State, seeking its first winning season in 13 years, has won its most games in a season since winning 10 in 2001-02.

The teams met for the second time this season, with Santa Clara winning at San Jose State 63-53 in December. The schools, located less than four miles apart, last played each other twice in the same season in 1968-69 when both were members of the West Coast Athletic Conference.

The Broncos made seven of their first 10 shots of the second half, including Gunderson's go-ahead 3-pointer with 12:43 remaining. The Spartans, who were held scoreless for nearly four minutes, regained the lead minutes later, taking advantage of the Broncos' own cold spell that lasted over five minutes. Justin Graham's driving jumper put San Jose State up 47-46 with 9:08 left.

Graham, who had 10 points, made four free throws in the final 36 seconds to help secure the win.