Hosting and playing in the first annual D-III Western Regional Tournament, the UCSC Slugs finished third after losing the first night to the number 1 seed Nebraska Wesleyan 62-67 in a great game that went down to the wire.

The game was a war right from the beginning, with both teams playing at their best.  Their game had 17 lead changes, 9 ties and two players putting on quite a performance.  The Slugs Jimmy Herrera led all scorers with 28 points.  Nebraska’s M.J. Hrabik had 23 points and the game winner with a three pointer with 15 seconds on the clock and the score tied at 62.

The first half of the game was two teams exchanging points.  Herrera scored 13 for UCSC but the first half belonged to Hrabik and Heckman as they combined for 25 of their teams first half points and allowed them to take a 34-32 advantage into the locker room.  Even though these three players were the big scorers, it was the defense from the others that kept the game close.  Lorenzo Hutton, the Slugs best defender had 4 steals in the half and played some tough defense on several Nebraska players. 

The second half started much the same as the two teams would again get after it.  The Slugs made a couple of defensive adjustments; one being Jon Mercado taking Hrabik and Jarrod Heredia matching up with Heckman. These changes seemed to work as Heckman was limited to just 7 second half points, at least until the final 15 seconds when Hrabik scored 5 points (3-pointer and 2 free throws) he was held to just 3 second half points.

The Slugs had opportunities in the second half as Herrera scored 15 points to keep the Slugs close but it was a couple of late mistakes, a missed break away lay-up and a traveling call after a steal, that would have put the Slugs up 4 points with two minutes left in the game.  These mistakes along with a late foul away from the basket allowed Hrabik’s game winning shot to be the difference.

The next afternoon the Slugs would take on Colorado College, whom they split the regular season with and again it would be Jimmy Herrera who would lead the way for the Slugs, this time with 31 points.

This game started out very sluggish as both teams coming off losses could not find the basket.  The Slugs missed 8 of their first 10 shots, all around the rim finishing the half 10 of 38 from the field.   Herrera would score 12 points in the first half and Fernando Barreda and Heredia would add 6 points each and Hutton would lead the team with 3 key steals to allow the Slugs to go in at the half tied 33 all.

The second half would see the scoring pick up as Heredia scored 10, giving him 16 for the game.  Herrera would add 19 second half points and the final freethrows to eventually seal the victory, but it was Murphy Holmes’ 3-pointer with 2 seconds on the clock that would tie the game and give the Slugs the opportunity to win the game in overtime that was the biggest play of the game.

This victory would see the Slugs finish the season with a 9 and 18 record, one of the teams’ best in recent history and also lay the foundation for the future.  The Slugs will be losing Seniors - Jimmy Herrera, Jon Miller, Fernando Barreda and Bryan Maeda.  However, they will be returning several key players Juniors - Lorenzo Hutton, Murphy Holmes, Jarrod Heredia; Sophomores - Jon Mercado, Nick Holland-Lassister; Freshmen - Charlie Peck and Michael Hicks.  Also they will return Freshman Max Jaffe and Sophomore Jon Morrison (both of whom didn’t play this year), along with what Coach Johnson believes will be a stellar recruiting class, they should be one of the teams to beat in D-III hoops and hopefully their first chance to play in the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

 “This was a great year, the young men played their hearts out all season and if it wasn’t for a couple of youthful mistakes we could have finished the season much better, maybe even reversing our record for this season, or even better”, stated Coach Johnson.