SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team suffered their second overtime loss to a SCIAC opponent this season as they dropped a tight 101-95 overtime game to Pomona-Pitzer on Friday night. Joseph Espy led the team with 28 points and six rebounds with Zino Okah recording 27 points and five rebounds. UCSC shot 45.9% from the field, 36.1% from downtown and made 14 of their 17 free throws. The Slugs will return to action on Sunday when they host Lewis & Clark at 2:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
The Slugs struck first and never looked back in the opening five minutes of action as they built a 16-6 lead with baskets from Andrew Ferrara-Jones, Zino Okah, Ian McCloskey, and Joseph Espy. A Pomona-Pitzer run brought the game to a 19-19 tie with 11:48 left in the first half but UCSC quickly responded to regain their lead at 27-19. The Sagehens responded shortly after, taking the lead briefly at 28-27 before pushing to a 35-30 lead with 5:39 left in the half. UCSC hung with the Sagehens, trailing by six points to go into the halftime break.
 
UC Santa Cruz outscored Pomona-Pitzer 45-39 in the second half but didn't get their attack going until later in the half as PP increased their lead to eight points at 59-51 with 14:46 remaining in regulation. A three from Caden Breznikar and two free throws from Espy cut the Sagehens lead to just one point at 59-58. The contest remained close from that point on with neither team leading by more than three points until a jumper from Espy with 3:58 left put UCSC up 83-79. The Slugs fell behind 84-83 but a Ryan Wilson three with 1:40 on the clock put UCSC back up 86-84. After a late foul, the Sagehens made two free throws and tied the contest 86-86, serving as the score that would take us into overtime.
 
Unfortunately for UCSC, the Sagehens scored first and didn't slow down as they rebuilt their lead to as much as nine points before handing UCSC a 101-95 loss.