CLAREMONT, CA. – The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team came back from a first-half deficit to defeat non-conference opponent UC Santa Cruz 74-66 on Saturday afternoon at Voelkel Gymnasium.
 
Season Impact: with the win, the Sagehens improved to 3-0 on the year.
 
Pomona-Pitzer was led by Joe Cookson who went for 32 points and six rebounds in the win. Ty Bergman notched his second double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 boards while Peyton Mullarkey added 10 points.
 
The Sagehens did a great job taking care of the ball with only six turnovers in the game while they forced 10 against UC Santa Cruz. The Sagehens had 12 points off of turnovers and dominated the Banana Slugs in the paint 32-26.
 
UC Santa Cruz's three-point shooting gave them a major advantage in the first half after they shot 50% from beyond the arc hitting on 8-16 attempts from three.  The Banana Slugs also shot 50% from the floor at 15-30 while the Sagehens 37.5% from the field and still managed to shoot well from three in the first half at 40% hitting on 4-10.
 
The Sagehens jumped out to an 11-7 lead in the first five minutes of the first half and extended that lead to 13-7 before UC Santa Cruz started to heat up from three and climb back into the game.  Santa Cruz took their first lead at 23-21 with 9:10 left to play until halftime and got their lead up to as much as eight with a 38-30 lead with just under five minutes in the first half.  Pomona-Pitzer cut the deficit down late in the first half but still trailed 41-38 heading into the locker room.
 
Santa Cruz came out in the second half and kept the lead going with a 9-1 run to take a 47-40 lead. Pomona-Pitzer came back to make it an even game at 49-49 and then the game tightened up with a few lead exchanges deep into the second half. Cookson started to take over the game in the second half with a big three-pointer to make it 63-60 and then came back a few possessions later with an and-one to put Pomona-Pitzer up 71-64. UC Santa Cruz was then forced to foul to get back into the game, but the Sagehens closed the game out at the line to earn their third win in as many games.
 
Up Next: The Sagehens will host the David Wells Classic where they will host Carleton College on Friday, November 24^th at 4:00 p.m. at Roberts Pavilion.