SANTA CRUZ, Ca. – The UC Santa Cruz men's basketball team improved to 12-7, picking up their sixth straight win with an 82-73 victory over the Stanton Elks on Sunday afternoon.
Leo Wagner led the team with 24 points with nine rebounds while
Joseph Espy recorded his seventh double double of the season with 22 points and 11 boards while recording three blocks and one steal. The Banana Slugs will be back in action on January 29th when they travel to Newport News, Virginia to take on No. 14 Christopher Newport University at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
How It Happened
After over two minutes of scoreless play,
Hunter Kennedy scored the game's first bucket with a shot from downtown. UCSC was able to outscore Stanton 8-6 with six points from
Joseph Espy and two from
Leo Wagner to build an 11-6 lead with 12:39 left in the half. A 5-0 run from the Elks brought the game to a tie at 11-11 but UCSC surged to a 29-22 lead, outscoring Stanton 18-11 with six points from
Jaden Gamez, four from Wagner, three from Espy, three from
Hunter Kennedy, and another two from
Ben Lim. Stanton closed out the half on a 15-7 run, putting UCSC behind 37-36 heading into the halftime break.
The Elks hit a three to start the second half, quickly building a 40-36 lead but UCSC responded with an 11-7 run to tie the game at 47-47 with Gamez leading the charge with five points. From there, the Banana Slugs went on a 15-2 run, charging forward to a 62-49 lead with
Leo Wagner dropping seven points in the stretch to get UCSC back on top with 8:41 left on the clock.
The game got chippy as a brief scuffle resulted in three ejection on Stanton as well as one on the UCSC bench, giving both teams a pair of free throws. Despite the late delay, the Slugs continued to play well down the stretch as they worked to a 68-53 lead. The Elks began to make a late game push, using a 10-5 run to close the gap to 73-63 with 3:25 to play. The charge continued as Stanton pulled within six at 79-73 following a 10-6 run but UCSC made three free throws to close out the game, earning the 82-73 victory.
