DAVIS, CA -- The UCSC Men Banana Slugs took their traveling road show (all games this year will be played on the road because of work being done on their home gym, the West Field House) to the home of the UC Davis Aggies and got handed a 71-49 loss.  Even though the score seemed lopsided, the game was a lot closer than it seems.  With 5 minutes left in the game, the Slugs were only down by 6 points (50-44). Then the Division One Aggies turned up the pressure with a full court press and forced the Slugs into several key turnovers and put the game away.

The Slugs starting one Senior; Jon Morrison (11 points and 3 rebounds) and three Sophomores; Greg Palmer, Ehson Mortezaie, Ari Ben-Avram and one Freshman; Ryan Matsuoka came out and battled the Aggies as tough as they could for the 1^st half, battling the bigger Aggies on the boards and matching them point for point before going in at the half trailing 35-26.

The younger Slugs open the second half much like the first, not backing away from the Aggies and getting some great play out two other Freshmen, John (Scotty ) Buck and Jacob Moore as they would help the undersized Slugs battle to within 6 before things started coming apart.  In the Slugs’ next 5 possessions they had 4 missed freethrows and 3 turnovers.  The Aggies quickly took advantage of this and put the game away.

The Slugs got help from everyone as they had very balanced scoring, led by Morrison 11, followed by Matsuoka with 8 and Buck with 7.

“This was a good game for us after playing a couple of scrimmages and an exhibition game in which I didn’t think we played to our ability.  I really think this game is going to help us as the season continues” stated Coach Johnson.

The next games for the Slugs will be in the 1^st Annual Thinker, Tinker, Stinker Classic held at Cal Tech on 11/23 and 11/24.  The Slugs will play Cal Tech and Whitman College.