PARKLAND, Wa. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team fought to a 77-70 overtime victory over the Pacific Lutheran Lutes on Sunday afternoon. This is the second win of the season over Pacific Lutheran for the Banana Slugs with UCSC earning an 87-75 victory on Nov. 9 in the second game of the year. The Banana Slugs were dominant in the first half, but the Lutes erased a 17 point deficit in the second half to force overtime. UC Santa Cruz outpaced Pacific Lutheran in the OT period with a 16-9 advantage to earn the victory. Joseph Espy led the way for UC Santa Cruz, dropping 20 points with nine rebounds and two blocks in the contest while Leo Wagner added 14 points with nine boards as well. Hunter Kennedy and Aidan Carleson also scored double digit points on the night with 13 and 10, respectively while Thomas Conley recorded nine points and eight rebounds. With the victory, UC Santa Cruz is now 8-7 on the year, winning their third straight Division III contest and their second straight overall. The Banana Slugs will travel back to Claremont, California for a rematch against the Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens on Jan. 10 at 2:00 p.m. The last time the two teams faced off was Dec. 17 when UCSC defeated the Sagehens 67-58.
 
How It Happened
The Banana Slugs shot 48.3% from the field in the first half to outscore Pacific Lutheran 38-24 to gain some early momentum. The Lutes struck first but UCSC stayed even as Joseph Espy, Elijah Brookes, and Ben Lim all scored to tie things at 6-6 before a Hunter Kennedy jumper and Leo Wagner three put the Slugs up 11-6 moments later. Pacific Lutheran was on the better side of a slight 11-8 run to close the gap to 19-17 with 6:02 left in the first but the Banana Slugs erupted down the stretch with a 19-7 run to close out the half. The run saw baskets from six different players including six points from Espy along with three from Wagner, Kennedy, and Jaden Gamez, giving UCSC a 38-24 halftime advantage.
 
Pacific Lutheran opened the second half on a 12-4 run that lasted just over five minutes, closing the gap to 42-36. The Banana Slugs responded promptly, using an 11-0 run with five points from Hunter Kennedy, four from Leo Wagner, and two from Joseph Espy to put the team on top 53-36. The Lutes weren't discouraged, storming back into the contest over the next nine minutes with a 23-8 advantage, going 9-15 from the field with three threes to cut the deficit to two points at 61-59 with 2:09 remaining in regulation. Pacific Lutheran was able to find the equalizer with 54 seconds left with both teams fighting to the end. The Banana Slugs had an opportunity to take the lead but missed the three point shot with 16 seconds left, giving the Lutes the final shot. In the final seconds of regulation, Pacific Lutheran missed the three pointer and earned a quick steal after a Thomas Conley rebound, and later missed the jumper as time expired, sending the game to overtime tied 61-61.
 
Thomas Conley connected from downtown to get overtime started, putting UC Santa Cruz back on top 64-61. From there, the Lutes managed to erase the slight lead as they outscored UCSC 5-2, tying things at 66-66 with 3:26 left in overtime. Joseph Espy put the Slugs back on top with a heavily contested layup but two free throws from the Lutes kept things knotted at 68-68 with 2:00 remaining. The Banana Slugs scored seven unanswered points to close out the contest with Aidan Carleson adding four points while Hunter Kennedy made three straight free throws to put UCSC up 75-68. The Lutes were able to add two more points at the charity stripe to make it 75-70 with nine seconds left but two free throws from Joseph Espy sealed the victory with UCSC taking the 77-70 overtime win.