ORANGE, CA (2-9) Three players scored double-figures as UC Santa Cruz Men's Basketball held off Westcliff 69-56

UCSC (11-13) won their third-straight game and swept the soCal roadtrip.

Freshman Sam Nangle got the Banana Slugs going in his first start with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to score the first 5 points at 16:50 to play in the half. Haakon Ullrich picked up right where he left off last night, making it difficult for Westcliff to stop him under the rim. After a Westcliff rally to tie, sophomore Will Whitty enters the game and sinks a three-pointer to put the Slugs up 22-19 with 9:00 in the half. A late quarter two-man game between Matthew McDonald and Patrick Ramos made UCSC's lead double digits entering the half at 41-31. 

The second half began with a lot of second chance buckets as Avri Finch secured three rebounds and two buckets keeping the lead at 10 (47-37) with 16:21 left in the game. A steal and three-pointer by Ramos and the Slugs' lead grows to 50-37 with 15:41 left. A dry period for the Slugs left them scoreless for four minutes and Westcliff was back in the game with 5 minutes to play at 57-51. Two fast break layups from Ramos and a quick three-pointer from Senior captain Eric Siegel grew the Slugs lead back to double digits with under three minutes to go and allowed UCSC to see out the win. 

Siegel and Ullrich led the UCSC scoring with 15 points each. Ramos added 13. Ronnie Davis led Westcliff (3-22) with 13 points and 9 rebounds off the bench.

After a two-week break, UC Santa Cruz finishes the regular season on Saturday the 22nd back in southern California when they take on St. Katherine in Oceanside.