SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team improved to 1-1 on the young season with an 87-75 victory over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes behind a double double from Caden Breznikar who had 17 points and 10 boards while Ben Lim, Andrew Ferrara-Jones, and Miles Burrows added 14 points, 13 points, and 11 points, respectively. The Banana Slugs will be back in action on Nov. 15 at 10:00 a.m. PST when they travel to the University of Chicago.
 
How It Happened
The Lutes struck first and jumped out to a quick 7-4 lead, but UCSC countered with an 8-4 run to take the lead at 12-11 as Leo Wagner, Caden Breznikar, Andrew Ferrara-Jones, and Thomas Conley all added two points in the run. The game remained tight with UC Santa Cruz outshooting the Lutes 13-10 to go up 25-21 with Joseph Espy leading the charge with five points. The Lutes were able to close the gap to one point at 32-31 before hitting a three, giving PLU a 34-32 lead with 4:57 on the clock. Elijah Brookes answered with a three of his own to jump start UCSC's 11-8 run down the stretch, putting UC Santa Cruz on top 43-42 heading into halftime.
 
Out of the break, the Banana Slugs surged to a 52-44 advantage with a 9-2 run that saw five points from Caden Breznikar along with two from both Miles Burrows and Joseph Espy. The Lutes called a timeout to slow down the momentum and hit a three right after the break, but UC Santa Cruz continued to charge forward with a 16-4 run to extend their lead to 68-51. The run featured 6-7 shooting from the field and 3-4 from downtown with Ferrara-Jones hitting two threes to lead the charge. The Banana Slugs continued to outpace Pacific Lutheran down the stretch, outscoring the Lutes 13-10 with six points from Miles Burrows to go up by 20 at 81-61 with 6:56 on the clock.