THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Cal Lutheran was playing from behind throughout most of Sunday afternoon's matchup with UC Santa Cruz. Each time CLU put a scoring run together the Banana Slugs had the answer in a 60-50 home loss for the Kingsmen.

Box Score: UCSC 60, CLU 50 - F

A dismal offensive first half for Cal Lutheran featured 12 turnovers, 15 points and 19 total shots. Despite their offensive woes the Kingsmen trailed by just three with five minutes remaining in the first half.

UC Santa Cruz closed out the opening period on a 15-3 run highlighted by a trio of three-pointers. The last of those three's came in the final second as Kevin Konopelski knocked down the fourth Banana Slugs triple of the half giving his squad a 30-15 halftime lead.

Six different players scored on six different occasions during the late first half surge. It was a theme throughout the afternoon for the Banana Slugs offense as nine different players scored in all.

In contrast only three Kingsmen contributed first half points. In his first significant action of the season freshman Martin Flowers showcased his abilities early on with five first half points.

He scored the final five first half points for Cal Lutheran and provided a much needed spark off the bench. Flowers finished with 12 points, two rebounds, a block and an assist in 18 minutes of floor time.

Cal Lutheran opened the second half scoring six unanswered points cutting the deficit to nine. It would be the first of multiple instances in which the Kingsmen closed the gap to under 10 points. However UC Santa Cruz answered with timely baskets preserving at minimum a six point cushion throughout the final 20 minutes.

Following the 6-0 CLU scoring run out of intermission Tyler Hunt knocked down one of his game-high four three-pointers to push the lead back to 12 points. Teammate Samuel Allen proved to be the second half nemesis for Cal Lutheran scoring 13 of his team-high 15 points in the frame.

On four different occasions Allen made either a basket or free throw that pushed the UC Santa Cruz advantage back to double figures. After Cal Lutheran closed to within 56-50 in the final minute of play he was fouled and went to the charity stripe for two free throws.

Despite the team shooting 4-of-14 from the line in the first 39 minutes of regulation, Allen and Brent Jacobs combined to make the final four attempts to seal the game.

Aaron Van Klaveren finished with game-highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds. He became just the sixth player in program history with over 700 career rebounds. Van Klaveren needs one more board to move into fifth all-time in Kingsmen history.

Cal Lutheran (3-4) will play back-to-back games at the Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Tournament starting on Friday, Dec. 29, against Washington (MD) College.