Box Score PASADENA, CA -- Corey Cilia made a jumper with fifty three seconds left in regulation to tie the game and the Banana Slugs held California Institute of Technology to only three points in overtime for a 60-56 victory Saturday in Pasadena. Saturday's night's game finishes the Slugs' trip to Southern California.
Both teams were coming a loss in their last contest. UC Santa Cruz was coming off a 75-61 loss to California Lutheran University on Friday in Thousand Oaks while the Beavers were coming off a 76-48 loss to Whitworth University in Pasadena on November 29th.
The first half started at a back and forth pace with neither team gaining an advantage larger than three. The Beavers would take a 14-12 lead on a David Lebaron three pointer with 8:49 left in the half. The Beavers would build their lead to seven, their largest of the half, at 28-21 on a Luke Lango jumper with 2:42 left in the half. The Banana Slugs would use two layups, one by Kyle Creighton and one by James Townsend, to close the Beavers' lead to 31-25 at halftime.
In the second half, the Beavers would expand their lead to their largest of the ballgame, at 38-27, on a KC Emezie three pointer with 17:49 left. The Slugs would then go on a 14-0 run, capped by a Corey Cilia three pointer, to give the Slugs a 41-38 lead with 12:18 left. The Beavers would take the lead again using an 11-1 run, capped by two Nick Buoniconti free throws, giving the Beavers a 49-42 lead with 8:16 remaining. The Banana Slugs would respond with a 7-0 run of their own, capped by an Adam Marlow layup with 3:53 left to tie the game at 49-49. The game was played at a back and forth pace. Cilia would tie the game at 53-53 with fifty three seconds left and Emezie's potential game winner was blocked by Tre Weston to send the game into overtime.
In overtime, Jared Ponce would hit a jumper with 4:27 left to give the Slugs the lead for good. The Banana Slugs would their largest lead of the game at four on two occasions, the second occasion coming on a Jared Ponce free throw with three second left to give the Slugs a 60-56 lead. Lango would miss a three pointer at the buzzer and the Banana Slugs broke their six game losing streak with a 60-56 win.
Townsend had fifteen points for the Banana Slugs. Emezie had a game high twenty three points for the Beavers. Dylan Holler had eleven points off the bench for the Banana Slugs in the win. Bryan Joel had nine points for the Beavers.
The Banana Slugs shot 51% (26-51) from the field, 30% (3-10) from the three point line and was 20% (5-25) from the free throw line. The Beavers shot 32.1% (17-53) from the field, 31.6% (6-19) from the three point line and 76.2% (16-21) from the foul line. UC Santa Cruz's defense forced twenty Beaver turnovers scoring twelve points off the turnovers while the Beavers' defense forced fifteen turnovers by UC Santa Cruz scoring eleven points off the turnovers. California Institute of Technology outrebounded UC Santa Cruz 38-36 but the Banana Slugs had ten more points off the bench (24-14) than did the Beavers.
The Banana Slugs will play their final game of their back-to-back-to-back on Sunday as they will take on Northwest Indian College at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.
