Box Score SANTA CRUZ, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team opened up their 2021 season with a 66-62 win over non-conference opponent UC Santa Cruz on Saturday afternoon at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
The Sagehens were led by Matthew Eberle who led the team with 15 points. Brendan Mora had 11 points and seven rebounds while Johnny King had 10 and Pete Boyle chipped in with nine.
The Sagehens lived in the paint against the Banana Slugs as they scored 34 points in the paint. Pomona-Pitzer was just 4-24 from three and hit on 38.7% from the field but forced UCSC to turn the ball over 13 times and scored 21 points off of turnovers.
UC Santa Cruz stayed with the Sagehens early on and actually took a 10-9 lead with just under five minutes played in the first half, but the Sagehens responded with a 14-3 run capped off by a Joe Cookson layup to take a 23-13 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the first half. The Banana Slugs chipped away in the final 10 minutes of the half and got the lead down to six points at 34-28 heading into the locker rooms.
The Sagehens came out in the second half and quickly got the lead back up to over 10 points and sustained that lead for the majority of the second half. UCSC started to bring the game closer in the final 10 minutes of the game and got within five at 57-52 with 6:10 left to go.
The Sagehens weathered the storm and got the lead back out of striking distance at nine points after some good free-throw shooting from Eberle who converted on nine of his 10 shots from the stripe.
Santa Cruz made a run late to get the deficit to four at 64-60 with 47 seconds remaining, but more good free-throw shooting from the Sagehens allowed them to hold off Santa Cruz for the win in their season opener.
Up Next: The Sagehens will return home to face Biola on Tuesday, November 16th at 7:00 p.m.
