UC Santa Cruz Men's Basketball played Warren Wilson (4-17) for their first game of the C2C tournament at Kaiser Permanente Arena. The Banana Slugs beat the Owls 87-72 staying in the lead majority of the game.
UC Santa Cruz improved to 9-16.

The starters for this game were Ian McCloskey, Zino Okah, Avri Finch, Treyson Keating, and Eric DeBrine. The first half started with the Banana Slugs taking control of the game. The Slugs got possession of the ball through a tip off and from there made the first shot securing their lead. Adding the first points to the scoreboard, Zino Okah passed an assist for Eric DeBrine to make a beautiful 3-pointer making the score 3-0 (19:12).
 
In the beginning of the half, the score was going back and forth with Warren Wilson in the lead and then UC Santa Cruz in the lead. However, after the first six minutes of the game, it was just a warmup for the Slugs and then they took control of the game. A layup by the returning Tyler Kessinger made it 32-18 with 6:49 left. Finch ended the first half with a great play of a layup with 0:09 left making the halftime score 46-28.
 
The Banana Slugs start off the second half aggressively with high intensity. The Owls were getting aggressive trying to come back from the first half. Warren Wilson College made many steals in the second half and made jumper shots to try and repossess the game making the score 52-46, only six points behind (12:38).
Yet, after regaining control with a 20-8 run that made it 72-54, the Banana Slugs took a well-deserved win after fighting hard to stay in the lead.
 

Keating and Finch both led the Banana Slugs with 20 points contributing the most points each to the scoreboard. Keating also earned a double-double with 12 rebounds. Finch became the tenth player in program history to make it to 1,000 points. Finch and DeBrine had the most rebounds with 15 each, and Finch defensively contributed with two blocks.
The Owls' O'Darius Cade led all players with 21 points playing all 40 minutes.
 
The Men's Basketball team will play their second game in the C2C tournament against fourth-ranked and defending Conference champions Christopher Newport in the semifinal at Kaiser Permanente Friday at 11:00 am.