Freshman Avri Finch scored 22 points on a season-high 11 field goals, and nine other players scored as UC Santa Cruz overwhelmed West Coast Baptist 72-52 on Saturday night.

UCSC improves to 4-5 on the year. UCSC never trailed in the contest, and shot 32-70 (45.7%) from the field compared to 20-58 (34.5%) for the Eagles (0-8). The Banana Slugs had a 55-25 rebounding advantage, including 38 defensive rebounds on 38 misses by West Coast Baptist.

The game was close early, with the visiting Eagles staying within seven most of the first half. With UCSC leading 25-18, the Slugs ran off a 9-4 run in the last five minutes of the first half for a 34-22 halftime lead.

UCSC opened the second half with a 15-4 run in the first 5:43, forcing an Eagles timeout. West Coast Baptist managed to get within ten at 49-39 with 9:44 left, but UC Santa Cruz locked down on defense and used their bench and rebounding to build the lead by as much as 21 before settling for the 20 point final margin.

Finch added a team-high 8 rebounds. Fellow freshman Treyson Keating had a team-high 12 rebounds. Patrick Ramos and Haakon Ullrich each added 10 points, while Simon Mueller-Landsvik scored 9 to go with a career-high 10 assists for UCSC. 

Ian Russell led the Eagles with 17 points in 37 minutes.

"It was a good team win," said senior co-captain Vinay Narayanam. "It's a very young team but there's alot of growth you can see," added Eric Siegel.

After finals, UCSC will head to southern California for three games, starting with a rematch at Caltech next Saturday.