Die Macht » RB Jonathan Stewart needs 1,008 yards rushing

LAS VEGAS -- With his roster down to eight healthy scholarship players, Arizona coach Sean Miller knew one of his freshmen would have to step up during the Continental Las Vegas Invitational.On Thursday night against Santa Clara, two of them did.Lauri Markkanen had 16 points and nine rebounds, Kobi Simmons scored 14 and No. 8 Arizona advanced to the championship game with a 69-61 victory.The Wildcats (5-0) will play Butler for the title on Friday.Every game is going to be a tough game right now, Miller said. It was a great challenge. They played a 3-2 zone for 40 minutes, and for a young group like ours, we had our moments where we really did a nice job. If it wasnt for a couple of turnovers, I think we would have been even better against their zone.Arizona limited the Broncos to 36 percent shooting (9 of 25) in the second half. And yet, Santa Clara sliced its deficit to 59-58 when Jared Brownridge drained a long 3-pointer with 4:10 left -- the teams fourth straight 3 during a 12-4 run.But then Keanu Pinder converted both ends of a 1-and-1, Santa Clara turned the ball over and Parker Jackson-Cartwright hit a 3 to push Arizonas lead back to 64-58. The Wildcats closed the game on a 10-3 spurt, and the Broncos (3-3) went scoreless over the final 3 minutes.I think we just stayed confident in ourselves. We know what we need to do out there and we know what we need to get done, Simmons said. (If) we keep playing hard to the end, well get the victory. We were very composed, we got to our spots, we knew what we wanted to do and I think we did a good job.Brownridge had 25 points. Last season he scored a career-high 44 in Arizonas 75-73 overtime win against Santa Clara, hitting seven 3s and making all 15 of his free throws.Our team did a much better job this year guarding him than last year, Miller said. He made some really, really good shots. There arent many guards that play college basketball that are better ... being able to shoot the 3 than Brownridge.Henrik Jadersten and Nate Kratch each had 10 points for Santa Clara, coached by former Arizona State coach Herb Sendek.Arizona led 37-34 at halftime and scored 14 of the first 23 points in the second half behind Simmons. Every time the Broncos tried to answer, the Wildcats produced timely defensive stops and offensive production to maintain control of the tempo.We just kept fighting, rebounding the ball and being aggressive, said Markkanen, a 7-footer from Finland who is averaging 18.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. We were able to knock some shots down.BIG PICTUREArizona: After playing Butler, the Wildcats get some much-needed time off. Theyll have five days before their next game after playing five games in 11 days and their first six over 14 days in three cities.Santa Clara: Though the Broncos fell short, they showed they can hang with a nationally ranked power, which should help them when West Coast Conference play begins and they face the likes of No. 11 Gonzaga and No. 15 Saint Marys.TARGET PRACTICEAfter shooting 43.3 percent in the first half, the Broncos ended up at 40 percent for the game. Meanwhile, the Wildcats shot 48 percent overall while outrebounding Santa Clara 37-26.Santa Clara did an excellent job on offense, being patient and moving the ball, Miller said. Kobi played a really good game tonight for us. We challenged him a couple of games ago to give more effort defensively and nobody can question his effort tonight. 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CAROLINA (17-2) at DENVER (15-4)Thursday, 8:40 p.m. EST, NBCOPENING LINE -- Panthers by 3SERIES RECORD -- Broncos lead 4-1LAST MEETING -- Broncos beat Panthers 24-10 in Super Bowl 50, Feb. 7, 2016AP PRO32 RANKING -- Panthers No. 1, Broncos No. 6BRONCOS OFFENSE -- OVERALL (16), RUSH (17), PASS (14).BRONCOS DEFENSE -- OVERALL (1), RUSH (3), PASS (1).PANTHERS OFFENSE -- OVERALL (11), RUSH (2), PASS (24).PANTHERS DEFENSE -- OVERALL (6), RUSH (5), PASS (11).STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES -- First time past two Super Bowl participants have met in Week 1 since Kansas City-Minnesota in 1970. ... Carolina has NFL-best 33-10 record since Week 6 of 2013 season. ... Panthers were 7-1 on road in 2015. ...League MVP Cam Newton led NFL with 45 combined touchdowns last season. Newton had 24 TD passes and no INTs in red zone. ... Carolina led NFL in scoring with 500 points. ... Panthers have run for at least 100 yards in 32 straight games, including playoffs. .. WR Kelvin Benjamin returns after missing 2015 season with torn ACL. Benjamin led Panthers with 73 receptions for 1,008 yards and nine touchdowns in 2014. ... WR Ted Ginn Jr. coming off career-high 10 TD receptions last year. ... TE Greg Olsen has 29 TD receptions in past five seasons. ... RB Jonathan Stewart needs 1,008 yards rushing to become franchises all-time career leader. ... Panthers defense has finished in toop 10 in NFL in four straight seasons.dddddddddddd ... Panthers led league in takeaways with 39 in 2015. Rookie CBs James Bradberry and Daryl Worley expected to start with All-Pro CB Josh Norman now in Washington. ... DE Kony Ealy had three sacks and two forced turnovers in Super Bowl loss. ... Broncos have won 15 of last 16 home openers. ... Broncos have won five straight AFC West titles. ... Coach Gary Kubiak is fourth coach to win Super Bowl in first season. ... Denver has sold out 357 straight home games. ... QB Trevor Siemian takes over for retired Peyton Manning. Siemian was seventh-round draft pick in 2015 and has never thrown pass in regular season. ... WR Demaryius Thomas looks to become first player with at least 90 receptions and 1,300 yards in five straight seasons. ... LB Von Miller had two strip-sacks in Super Bowl leading to 14 Denver points. Miller is third-fastest player to 50 career sacks ... Broncos have replaced seven starters on offense and two on defense. ... No cornerback has more INTs than Aqib Talib (30) since 2008. Fantasy Tip: Might want to sit Newton vs. Broncos. He had no TDs in Super Bowl and struggled vs. leagues best defense.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '