REDDING, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team earned a 78-64 victory over the Simpson Red Hawks on Saturday night. Ben Lim logged a double double with 13 points and 12 rebounds while Joseph Espy led all scorers with 17 points along with seven rebounds. The Slugs shot 53.4% from the field and 33.3% from downtown. UC Santa Cruz is now 11-7 on the year and is set to host Stanton University at KP Arena on Jan. 25th at 1:00 p.m.
 
How It Happened
UC Santa Cruz got off to a quick start, opening the contest on an 11-0 run with buckets from Elijah Brookes, Ben Lim, and Jaden Gamez. The two teams went an even 11-11 with UCSC holding a 22-11 advantage at the 11:05 mark. The Red Hawks used an 8-4 run to close the gap to 26-19 with 7:17 left in the half but the Slugs closed out the half on a 15-10 advantage with points from Gamez, Lim, Ollie Miller, Thomas Conley, Leo Wagner, and Hunter Kennedy to head into halftime leading 41-29.
 
The Red Hawks started the second half on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 41-35 and were momentarily interrupted by a layup from Miles Burrows but closed the gap to five points moments later with a three point play. The Slugs countered with a 9-0 run to regain momentum a Leo Wagner, Aidan Carleson, and Espy all scored to make it 52-38. The two teams traded shots back and forth with UCSC earning a slight 17-15 advantage en route to a 16 point lead at 69-53 with 5:27 remaining. The Red Hawks called a quick timeout to regroup before going on a short 4-0 run to cut the lead to 69-57. UC Santa Cruz was unphased as they closed out the contest with a 9-7 edge in scoring to earn the 78-64 victory on the road.