SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team picked up a 76-67 victory over the Lewis and Clark Pioneers on Sunday evening. Joseph Espy and Zino Okah led the way with 23 and 20 points, respectively with Espy grabbing nine boards while Okah recorded eight rebounds of his own. With the win, the Slugs are now 3-2 and will be back in action on Friday at KP Arena when they host CMS at 1:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
The Slugs struck first with a bucket from Joseph Espy to kick off a 14-4 run in the opening four minutes and 36 seconds of play. The Pioneers and Slugs went back and forth for an even 11-11 score line with UCSC holding a 25-11 lead. Scoring evened out for the last 10 minutes of the half with UCSC holding a 19-18 edge down the stretch with Andrew Ferrara-Jones and Zino Okah both recording seven points to give the Slugs a 44-33 lead going into the halftime break.
 
Out of the break, UC Santa Cruz surged to a 61-44 lead, using a 17-11 run with five points from Espy and Okah along with points from Miles Burrows and Caden Breznikar. From there, Lewis and Clark used a slight 12-8 advantage to cut the UCSC lead to 69-56. The Pioneers outscored UCSC 11-7 to end the game, but the comeback attempt wasn't enough as UC Santa Cruz earned the 76-67 victory on Sunday evening.