Banana Slugs crawl over San Jose Bible

SANTA CRUZ Don't make a Banana Slug angry. He and his friends will just crawl all over you.

It happened Saturday night when the UCSC men's basketball team the Banana Slugs responded to a controversial technical foul called during halftime practice by ringing up 59 points in the second half once it started. As a result, the Banana Slugs crawled out from an eight-point deifcit and raced past San Jose Bible College, 94-74, in a Bay Area Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.

At halftime, UCSC was assessed a technical foul for Bruno Baldini's dunk in warmups, giving San Jose two shots. "He didn't even touch the rim. He was above the rim and just throwing it down through," said UCSC Coach Mark Henry, more than a little annoyed with the call and the unbending manner in which the rule no dunks in warmups, period was applied.

"We were down four at the time, they hit two free throws, were.; awarded the ball and scored. again, giving them an eight-point lead. I think that was the motivating factor for our surge in the second half."

The Banana Slugs improved their record to 3-12 overall and 3-0 in the BAIAC.

The 59-point second half featured UCSC forcing San Jose into 13 turnovers. In that half, John Griffin scored 16 of his game-high 20 points. San Jose "had a pretty good; team. They were bigger and could jump higher than we could," Henry said. "I was concerned at the start of the game."

UCSC had five players in double figures for the first time this season- Griffin (20),Baldini (16), Kurt Jaeger (10), Sandro Meallet (10) and Lou Rowean (10). Baldini led the Banana Slugs in rebounds with seven and dished out six of the team's 22 assists, "which is gratifying," Henry said.

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