FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA- The UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs played C2C rival University of Mary Washington Eagles as their last game in Virginia this weekend. Sad to say, the Banana Slugs lost to Mary Washington 65-43.
The Banana Slugs worked hard after a long week of back-to-back-to-back games. The Slugs and the Eagles were neck and neck for the whole game. However, Mary Washington secured a strong lead, and the Eagles won.
 
The Banana Slugs were in the lead most of the first half, but Mary Washington soon recovered with consecutive 3 point shots and layups in a 14-6 run making the score 25-17 with 3:08 left. The Eagles ended up making another 3 pointer in the very last minute of the first half putting them in the lead, making the halftime score 30-21 Eagles in the lead.
 
Zino Okah ended the first half with six points and two rebounds and both  Avri Finch and Ian McCloskey ended the first half with four points. They all dominated the court, each contributing greatly to the Banana Slug side of the scoreboard.
 
It was a physical game with many foul calls on the Slugs. There was a great steal by Justin Yasukochi who poked the ball out which led to Avri Finch finishing into a layup in the 2nd half that made the score 51-33 with 6:45 left. During the second half,  Treyson Keating recovered the ball to set up an outstanding play for Okah, who was going up against a defender with a layup and spun the ball in making the score 54-36 with 5:05 minutes left.
 
UC Santa Cruz started and ended the game with good defense causing Mary Washington to have a total of 12 turnovers. The Eagles continued to fumble their passes due to the strong defense from the Slugs, which led them to get six steals throughout the game.
 
Okah ended the game with 9 points. Sohan Kshirsagar also had 9 points, and Ian McCloskey scored 8 points. Reece Ivanoff and Keating each made two assists into great shots, and Keating had a team-high six rebounds .
 
After playing three games in four days, the Banana Slugs will be traveling back home to Santa Cruz to play the Dominican this upcoming Wednesday for Senior Day.