SANTA CRUZ, CA -- UC Santa Cruz shot a chilly 29.1% from the field and UC Santa Cruz lost the first game of the UCSC Thanksgiving Classic to fellow NCAA Division III opponent Chapman University 68-37. 

Both teams were coming off wins in their last contest. UC Santa Cruz won 59-50 over Linfield last Sunday and Chapman routed St. Katherine's College 86-52 in Orange on Saturday. 

Chapman never trailed throughout the contest and scored the first six points of the game. The Banana Slugs would tie the game, at 6-6, with 15:24 remaining in the half on a Corey Cilia layup. On the next Panther possession, Taylor Hamasaki would hit one of two free throws to give the Panthers the lead for good. The Panthers' lead would swell to double digits, at 22-10, with 8:37 left in the first half on a Jordan Young three-pointer. The Panthers lead would grow to twenty, at 36-16 on a John Joyce jumper with forty-one seconds left in the half. The Panthers would carry the 36-16 lead into the halftime break. 

In the second half, the Panthers kept the pressure on the Banana Slugs. The closest that UC Santa Cruz would come was twenty-one points, on two occasions, the second coming with 10:31 remaining on an Andreas Peritos layup to make the score 52-31. The Panthers would gain their largest lead of the game at thirty three points, at 68-35, on an Amador Nazarov layup with thirty three seconds to go. James Townsend would add a late layup and the Panthers would win 68-37. 

Andrew Jones, off the bench, had eight points for the Banana Slugs. Hamasaki had a game high fifteen points for the Panthers. Jared Ponce had six points for the Banana Slugs in the loss. Joyce and Justin Young both had double doubles for the Panthers with Joyce scoring 14 and grabbing 10 rebounds and Young scoring 10 points and nabbing 10 rebounds. 

The Banana Slugs shot 29.1% (16-55) from the field, 16.7% (2-12) from the three point line and was 37.5% (3-8) from the free throw line. The Panthers shot 48.3% (28-58) from the field, 46.2% (6-13) from the three point line and 66.7% (6-9) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz's defense forced twenty five Panther turnovers scoring fifteen points off the turnovers while the Panthers' defense forced twenty-two turnovers by UC Santa Cruz scoring twenty five points off the turnovers. Chapman outrebounded UC Santa Cruz 47-28 but the Banana Slugs had three more points (21-18) off the bench than did the Panthers.

The Banana Slugs will have little time to reflect on today's game as their next game is tomorrow against Carthage College at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Tipoff is set for 3 pm.