It was a tale of two halves on Senior Night as UC Santa Cruz men's basketball fell to Division II Academy of Art 76-65 Tuesday night at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
The Banana Slugs fell to 10-14 after their third consecutive loss to a Division II opponent.
 
The team honored Nelson Etuk, Tyler Kessinger and Treyson Keating before their final home game. The game opened perfectly for UC Santa Cruz, who were up 11-3 after five minutes. The lead grew to as much as 17 after Etuk was fouled converting a layup, missed the ensuing free throw but got the rebound and fed Zino Okah for a three-pointer. That made the score 32-15 with seven minutes left before halftime and sent the home crowd into a frenzy. The Banana Slugs weathered a comeback and forced the Urban Knights into a shot clock violation to hold a 36-29 at the break.
 
The Urban Knights found their scoring touch in the second half, however. They opened with a 12-5 run in the first 4:04 to tie it at 41-41 after forcing three Banana Slug turnovers.
The back-and-forth game stayed within two possessions, but the Urban Knights closed with a 16-7 run in the last five minutes to pull off the road win.
 
Kessinger had 17 points to lead UC Santa Cruz. Okah had 12 and Joseph Espy scored 10 points along with a team-high nine rebounds.
Academy of Art (16-7) was led by Quintin Metcalf, who scored 23 of his game-high 31 points in the second half.
 
The Banana Slugs will find out on Monday who they will play in the Coast-To-Coast Conference tournament, which begins February 22nd in Fredericksburg Virginia.