WHITTIER, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team dropped a 75-73 road match to the Whittier Poets on Sunday evening.
Joseph Espy turned in a double double with 17 points and 14 rebounds while
Hunter Kennedy added 16 points.
Caden Breznikar nearly had a double double himself in the contest, recording 15 points with nine boards. The Banana Slugs will be back in action tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. against Chapman University in Orange, Ca.
How It Happened
The Banana Slugs were hard to handle in the first half, outscoring the Poets 41-24 in the opening 20 minutes.
Joseph Espy nearly had his double double in the first half alone, leading the team with 11 points and eight boards. The Slugs took a 5-0 lead early in the game with two from Espy and a three from
Thomas Conley. Buckets from
Hunter Kennedy and
Caden Breznikar quickly put the team up by nine points at 11-2. Steady offense from the Banana Slugs continued as
Leo Wagner, Breznikar, Kennedy, and Espy kept the pressure on, putting UCSC up 20-5 with 10:44 left in the first half. UC Santa Cruz pushed their lead out to 20 points on three different occasions as
Thomas Conley, Josdph Espy, and
Caden Breznikar kept applying pressure, eventually sending the team into halftime with a 41-24 lead.
Whittier made adjustments during the halftime break that led to a 51-32 advantage in the second half. The Slugs were able to preserve their double digit lead for nearly four minutes, but the Poets used a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 45-41 with 14:50 remaining in the contest. Whittier continued to surge back, tying the game at 53-53 with 9:13 to play. The Banana Slugs managed to narrowly stay out in front, working to a 63-59 lead with a tip in from Espy and a jumper from Kennedy with 5:26 to play. An 8-0 run from the Poets quickly shifted momentum as Whittier took a 67-63 lead. Whittier managed to lead by as much as eight at 73-65 but UCSC responded with an 8-0 run of their own with buckets from Breznikar, Conley, and Kennedy, tying the game at 73-73 with 25 seconds on the clock. After a Poets timeout with 20 seconds, Whittier managed to hit a go ahead jumper with five seconds left, giving UCSC one more chance trailing 75-73. After a brief timeout, an untimely turnover by the Slugs gave Whittier the 75-73 win, brining UCSC's four game win streak to an end.
