The Banana Slugs stepped out for the last time this season on their home court to celebrate their 9 seniors. In an emotional roller coaster game, the UC Santa Cruz men lost 63-62 in overtime to Division II Dominican University. 
 
Dominican took the lead at the start of the game, maintaining a couple points above the Slugs throughout the first ten minutes. Eric DeBrine hit the first three of the game to begin the shift of energy in the Slugs favor. Ian McCloskey hammered this shift in energy with a shifty move through the paint ending with a twist reverse layup that got the crowd roaring. The tide began to turn in the game and the Slugs began to dig in with Treyson Keating taking over the Slugs' defense with a huge block (among other blocks) that resulted in a turnover with 3 and a half minutes left in the half. He continued to lock up on defense and rebound as the quarter continued. The Slugs freshman Justin Yasukochi hit a quick three near the end of the first half to give the slugs their first lead. The 5-0 run allowed the Slugs to finish the half with a 24-21 score.
 
The Penguins came out into the second half knocking down some free throws to stay in the game. At 15:44 left, Justin Yasukochi hit a mid-range jumper and a fadeaway three at 14:30 to continue the Slugs' lead. He ended the game with a career high of 12 points.
 
McCloskey hit an "and-one" at 13:57 remaining with another great drive through the paint. Zino Okah followed with a spin fad away at 11:28. The Slugs continued to put pressure on the rim scoring to create a 9 point lead with 10 and a half minutes left. Dominican's Garret Siebels broke the Slug run with an and one that then began the Penguins slow return. The Penguins chipped away at the lead with a couple good lay-ins cutting the lead to 6 with 7:39 to go.
 
Marcus McCutchen closed the gap with back to back layups, and a 3 by Garrett Siebels created a 2 point game between Dominican and Santa Cruz. The Penguins then pulled ahead of the Slugs with a 55-52 that was then pushed down to two with a free throw from Avri Finch with 1:08 left. After a defensive stop,  Finch gets it on the outside block with under five seconds to go and sinks a spinning baseline jumper to tie the game at 55-all and get the Slugs to OT.
 
Keating came out into OT with a poised spin floater in response to the Penguins quick lay in at the beginning of OT. Jake Blazona hit a jumper at 1:45 to give the Penguins a two-point lead. Two missed free throws from the penguin maintained their two point lead and allowed the Slugs to respond with their own free throws by Finch to tie the game.
 
Dominican was able to get to the foul line again and hit one free throw to stay a point ahead. With not much time left, McCloskey hit a fadeaway three to put the Slugs up 62-60. With a surprise ending, Domincan's Jaayden Bush hit a deep three to put the Penguins up by a point with 0.7 seconds left in overtime to win the game for the Penguins.
Finch finished with 17 points to lead all players. McCloskey added 16, while Keating had 8 points to go with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Siebels led the Penguins with 15 points. The Penguins were 12-21 from the line in the game (57.1%) to the Banana Slugs going just 6-8.
UC Santa Cruz closes the regular season with two road games, starting next Tuesday at another Division II school Academy of Art in Oakland.