LA VERNE (2-8) - Haakon Ullrich scored 22 of his career-high 28 points in the second half as UC Santa Cruz rallied from a halftime deficit to beat the La Verne Leopards 76-68 Saturday afternoon.

Ullrich, who went to high school half an hour south of the La Verne campus, shot 10-13 from the field and 8-12 from the line. He was 8-9 in the second half as the Banana Slugs (10-13) continued to feed him inside to win at La Verne for the third-straight year.

The Banana Slugs led by 4 at 21-17, but the hosts went on a 14-7 run the final seven minutes of the first half for a 31-28 lead at the break.

There were four ties in the second half before Ullrich's jumper gave UC Santa Cruz the lead again at 45-44 with 11:19. Patrick Ramos hit a layup then a three-pointer to push the lead to 57-51 with 8:06 left.

UCSC then matched every La Verne attempt to get back into the game to earn the hard-fought win.

Ramos finished with 13 points and Avri Finch (12) and Simon Mueller-Landsvik (10) also hit double-figures. Mueller-Landsvik added a team-high 8 rebounds. Sinai Enoch led the Leopards (2-18) with 13 points. The Banana Slugs shot 31-56 (55.4%) on field goals, and were 20-33 (60.6%) in the second half. 

UCSC finishes their road-trip with a game against Westcliff University in Orange on Sunday night.