PASADENA (12-10) – The Banana Slugs started their two day trip to Southern California as they took on California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Banana Slugs shot over 55% and defeated the Beavers 83-59.
In their last game, the Banana Slugs defeated Rhodes College 111-109 in overtime in St. Louis on Saturday while California Tech lost 64-63 to Wisconsin Lutheran College on November 26th in Pasadena.
In the first half, the Beavers would start the game on a 6-1 spurt capped by a Bret Johnson three pointer with 17:34 left in the half. The Beavers would gain their largest lead of the ball game at six, at 9-3, on a Ricky Galliani three pointer with 16:15 left in the half. The Banana Slugs would then go on a 20-5 run, capped by a Will Crain jumper with 8:56 left in the half, to give the Banana Slugs a 23-14 lead. The Banana Slugs lead would never be relinquished. The Banana Slugs would gain a double digit lead at 27-16 on a Tre Weston layup with 8:01 left in the half. The Banana Slugs gained their largest lead of the half at nineteen, at 45-26, on a Corey Cilia three pointer with 1:24 left in the half. The Banana Slugs would lead 45-28 at halftime.
In the second half, the Banana Slugs would hold the Beavers at arms' length. The Banana Slugs would gain their largest lead of the game at twenty six, at 58-32, on a Dylan Holler jumper with 13:47 left. The Beavers would come as close as fifteen, at 72-57, on an Andrew Wang free throw with 2:46 left. The Banana Slugs won 83-59 and extended their winning streak to two.
Cilia and Crain both had a game high thirteen points to lead the Banana Slugs. Wang also had a game high thirteen points for the Beavers. Ben Dorfman and Adam Marlow both had ten points for the Banana Slugs in the win. Three players (Alec Andrews, Galliani and Johnson) had nine each for the Beavers.
The Banana Slugs shot 58.7% (27-46) from the field, 55.6% (10-18) from the three-point line and was 70.4% (19-27) from the free throw line. The Beavers shot 37.5% (21-56) from the field, 27.8% (5-18) from the three-point line and 63.2% (12-19) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz's defense forced fourteen turnovers by the Beavers scoring fourteen points off the turnovers while the Beavers' defense forced fifteen turnovers by UC Santa Cruz and scored ten points off the turnovers. The rebounding battle between the two teams was tied at 30-30 while the Banana Slugs had eight more points fast break points (10-2) than did the Beavers.
The next game for the Banana Slugs is tomorrow as they take on California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks at 3 pm.