TACOMA, Wa. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team earned a 62-58 victory over the Puget Sound Loggers on Saturday evening. The Banana Slugs are now 7-7 on the year and will be back in action on Dec. 28 at 2pm with a game against Pacific Lutheran. Thomas Conley led the scoring efforts for UCSC against the Loggers, recording 13 points with five boards while Joseph Espy and Hunter Kennedy both added 11 points with Espy bringing in six rebounds. The Slugs shot 35.8% from the field (19-53) and 40.9% from downtown (40.9%) while making 15 of 22 free throws.
 
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz outscored Puget Sound 23-20 in a low scoring first half battle. The two teams went nearly shot for shot in the early going with UCSC working to a 4-2 lead with buckets from Caden Breznikar and Joseph Espy before Puget Sound went ahead 8-4. Another two points from Breznikar closed the small lead to 8-6 but Puget Sound used a 5-0 run to extend their lead to 13-6. From there, the Banana Slugs used a 9-2 run to even the game at 15-15, highlighted by a game tying three from Hunter Kennedy with 3:52 left in the half. The run continued as Kennedy hit his second straight three before Espy knocked one down from beyond the arc, putting the Slugs up 21-15 with just over two minutes left in the first half. Puget Sound closed out the half on a 5-2 run, but UCSC took the 23-20 lead into the break thanks to the late surge from Kennedy and Espy.
 
Both team's offenses came to life in the second half with UC Santa Cruz narrowly outscoring the Loggers 39-38 in the half. The Banana Slugs got off to a quick start with Elijah Brooks and Thomas Conley both hitting threes to get the scoring started in the second half to put UCSC up 32-20. Despite a quick 4-0 run from Puget Sound, UC Santa Cruz kept shooting from downtown as Leo Wagner and Hunter Kennedy both hit three pointers from deep to put UCSC ahead 38-27 with 14:16 left. The Banana Slugs worked to their largest lead of the night following a 9-4 run to go ahead by 16 points at 47-31 with 11:10 remaining. The run saw two points from Aidan Carleson, two from Miles Burrows, two from Joseph Espy, and three from Thomas Conley. From there, Puget Sound responded with a 10-2 run to close the gap to 50-41 with 7:27 remaining, pulling within single digits for the first time since the 14:38 mark. UC Santa Cruz quickly countered with a 5-2 run to go back up by double digits at 55-43 with buckets from Aidan Carleson and Ben Lim. The pendulum continued to swing as Puget Sound responded again, this time with a 10-3 run to close the gap to five points at 58-53 with 1:04 on the clock. Ben Lim made a layup before Puget Sound sent Thomas Conley to the free throw line on the Slugs' next possession with Conley making one of two shots to put UCSC ahead 61-53. The Loggers late game strategy worked well as they hit a three on their next possession, cutting the lead to 61-56 before calling a timeout to regroup. Out of the break, the Logggers fouled Espy, sending him to the line to shoot two. Espy missed both free throws with the Loggers grabbing the board and driving through the paint to make a layup, cutting the lead to 61-58 with just nine second remaining. Conley was fouled and knocked down one of two free throws to put the Slugs ahead by four at 62-58. The Loggers took the game's final shot at the buzzer but missed the three, giving UC Santa Cruz the 62-58 victory despite the late game charge from the Loggers.