November 29, 2005
Nebraska a Little Chilly for Slugs
Jimmy Herrera Makes All-Classic Team

UCSC Men's Basketball Team came up a little short for the second week in a row as they lost 2 games in chilly (29 degrees) Nebraska at the Snyder Classic to the 5-0, Nebraska Wesleyan Prairie Wolves, 71-75 and the 4-1, Wartburg Saints of Iowa, 44-73.

In both games, the Slugs jumped out to early leads before being overtaken late in the first halves. The area that had been the team's strength; freethrows, became their nemesis as they could only shoot 57% (12 for 21) against the Prairie Wolves and 58% (14 for 24) against the Saints.

The first game against Nebraska Wesleyan was like a battle of the Titans as the two teams exchanged blows throughout the first half with Jimmy Herrera scoring 9 points and Jon Mercado and Charlie Peck adding 6 points each. In spite of these performances, the Slugs trailed 34-40 at the half.

The second half of the game was even better as the Slugs came out and went after the Wolves. Both teams again would exchange blows, with the Slugs getting the better of it (37-35) as they came back on the strength of Herrera's 19 second half points (career high 30 points for the game) to cut the lead to 2 points (52-50) with 4 minutes left in the game. Nick Holland-Lassister, who had just hit a 3 pointer to pull the Slugs within 2 points, missed two freethrows in their next possession that would have tied the game. This allowed the Wolves the opportunity they needed as they came down and hit a 3 pointer to put them on top and they never looked back. The Slugs still tried to steal the games as they would make four 3 pointers in the final minutes but the Wolves who shot 20 of 29 from the freethow line for the game, made 8 of their final 10 down the stretch to hold off the Slugs.

In the second game against Wartburg not only did the weather get chilly, but so did the Slugs' shooting (14 for 44, 32%). Again the Slugs got off to a quick start (10-3) behind the shooting of Herrera and Mercado as they dropped in 9 and 11 points respectfully in the first half. After the first 5 minutes, the Slugs went like the weather and could only muster up 16 more points for the remainder of the game, while the Saints scored 37 points over the next 15 minutes to take a 26-40 half-time lead.

The second half wasn't much better as the cold shooting continued (5 for 18, 27%). The Saints made sure Herrera and Mercado weren't going to hurt them as they limited them to one shot each in the second half. This wasn't the only problem's the Slugs had. Mercado, Lorenzo Hutton, Jerrod Heredia all went down with ankle injuries; Bryan Maeda and Murphy Holmes were saddled with foul trouble.

The one positive of this game was "The Future". Freshmen Charlie Peck and Mike Hicks and Sophomore Nick Holland-Lassister all got valuable minutes, which could turn out to very helpful for the Slugs the remainder of the season.

Also, Congratulations to Jimmy Herrera for making the All-Classic Team.

Jimmy averaged 19.5 points a game on 11 for 25 from the field, 6 three pointers and 11 for 12 from the freethrow line, he also added 8 rebounds and 5 assist while playing an average of 33 minutes per game.

The next opponents for the road-weary Slugs will be at Menlo College on Tuesday the 29th. Then it's down to Riverside to play in the Redlands Tournament where they will open up with D-3 Independent rival Chapman at 2:00pm on Thursday December 1st before it's home for a week off and then their first home game, December 10th against Life.