THOUSAND OAKS (12-11) – The Banana Slugs finished up their four game road trip as they took on California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The Banana Slugs fell to the Kingsmen 74-61.
This game was a rematch of a game played on November 18th in Santa Cruz won by the Kingsmen 73-62. In their last game, the Banana Slugs won 83-59 over California Institute of Technology yesterday in Pasadena while California Lutheran won 108-91 over NCCAA member Bethesda University of California.
In the first half, the Banana Slugs earned their largest lead of the ballgame at two, at 6-4, on a Ben Dorfman three pointer with 16:28 left in the half. The Kingsmen would take the lead for good, at 9-6, on an Adrian Francis three pointer with 13:49 left in the half. The Banana Slugs would come as close as one, at 20-19, on a Corey Cilia three pointer with 6:17 left in the half. The Kingsmen would gain their largest lead of the half at seven on three occasions; the third occasion at 34-27 on a Blake Miles layup with no time remaining in the half. The Kingsmen led 34-27 at the halftime break.
In the second half, the Kingsmen would hold the Banana Slugs at arms' length for the entire half. The Kingsmen would gain a double digit lead, at 37-27, on a Wolfgang Wood three pointer with 18:55 left. The Banana Slugs would come as close as three, at 55-52, on an Adam Marlow layup with 5:07 left. The Kingsmen would gain their largest lead of the ballgame at sixteen, at 72-56, on a Francis layup with 1:43 left. The Kingsmen won 74-61 stopping the Banana Slugs' winning streak at two.
Three players (Cilia, Kyle Creighton and Marlow) had thirteen points apiece to lead the Banana Slugs. Austin Cole had a game high eighteen points for the Kingsmen. Andrew Jones, off the bench, had seven points and Dorfman had five points for the Banana Slugs in the loss. Francis had sixteen points, Wood had fourteen points and Caleb Richey had ten points for the Regals.
The Banana Slugs shot 41.4% (24-58) from the field, 25% (5-20) from the three-point line and was 61.5% (8-13) from the free throw line. The Kingsmen shot 45.8% (27-59) from the field, 38.9% (7-18) from the three-point line and 59.1% (13-22) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz's defense forced seven turnovers by the Kingsmen scoring six points off the turnovers while the Kingsmen defense forced thirteen turnovers by UC Santa Cruz and scored nine points off the turnovers. UC Santa Cruz outrebounded California Lutheran 39-37 and the Banana Slugs had one more second chance point (8-7) than did the Kingsmen.
The Banana Slugs will now come home for three games. The next game for the Banana Slugs is Saturday as they take on Illinois Institute of Technology at Kaiser Permanente Arena at 3 pm.