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Home  |  Roster  |  Schedule/Results  |  Coaching Staff  |  News  |  Team Statistics

February 26th, 2011
Panthers Prevail in Western Region Division III Independents Tournament

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- On a day when snow fell in Santa Cruz, the Slug offense turned ice cold in the second half. The result was a 91-77 loss to Chapman in the finals of the All Independent Western Regional Tournament.

Early on, University of California, Santa Cruz threw a new wrinkle at Chapman. Coming out in a 2-3 zone, Santa Cruz caught Chapman off guard early. The well coached Panthers recovered quickly as their outside shooting guard, Griffin Ramme found the zone to his liking, scoring 12 points in the first half while shooting 50% from three point range. Held in check the first two games against the Slugs, Ramme dominated the early going, eventually forcing Santa Cruz to go back to its man to man defense. After Jake Moore opened the game scoring with a short hook, Ramme came back and hit a trey to take the game lead for the first, but unfortunately not the last time. The next time down the court, Brandon Lin of Chapman hit another three, stretching the Panther lead to four. Still the Slugs hung around early off of the inside play of Jake Moore. When Sam Allen hit a three just over twelve minutes into the game, the Slugs held a slim 23-22 lead. Alas, it was the last Slug lead as Chapman went on a 20-9 run for the rest of the half to surge to an eight-point half time lead, 42-34. Chapman’s big man, tournament MVP, Justin Riley scored the first four points of that game changing run with Ramme dropping in another dagger three to stop a mini Slug run.

Starting the second half, the Slugs once again came out in the zone and once again, it caused some momentary discomfort for Chapman, forcing a turnover in the first 15 seconds. A Trent Reeves three 2:30 into the second half cut the Panther lead to six and it looked like the Slugs might make a run of their own. Justin Riley of Chapman responded with a lay up and then a huge dunk, ending the run and the Slug hopes. Chapman was nearly flawless for the entire half, shooting an incredible 78.9% from the field for the second half. Missing two shots in the first two minutes of the second half, the Panthers would only miss two more the rest of the game. The next six minutes became the Ramme-Riley show as they scored the next thirteen points of a variety of shots, stretching the Panther lead to eighteen points. With the Panthers playing at a frantic pace on both ends, the Slugs simply were not able to keep up. Eventually, the hot shooting Panthers stretched it all the way out to a twenty two point lead before the Slugs made their final run of the season. Ryan Matsuoka triggered the run, hitting seven straight points, capped by a three off of a Reeves assist to cut the lead to fourteen points with 5:29 left in the game. Thirty seconds later, it was down to twelve points on a free throw by Jake Moore, but by then any flow was long gone from both team’s game. Over the seven minutes of the game as the game became increasing chippy, the referees took over, calling nineteen fouls and awarding thirty-eight free throws. The Panthers scored fifteen of their last nineteen points from the line. With the game decided, Coach Johnson put his senior quartet of Brandon Sanchez, Ryan Matsuoka, Greg Palmer and Darrin Lew on the floor one last time with 1:14 left in the game. Thirty seconds later, in a classy move, he replaced the seniors, exiting the Slug court one last time to a standing ovation by a very appreciative Slug crowd.

While the final results were not the desired results, this senior quartet has helped take Slug basketball to a new level. Coming in at 3-23 for their first year, they left the court for the last time having helped Santa Cruz tie its all time season win total. Their legacy will to be to motivate the future Slugs to continue getting better.

Game wise, Ryan Matsuoka once again led the Slugs in scoring with 20. Fellow senior, Darrin Lew finished with 10 points and Brent Jacobs was the leading Slug rebounder with 8. Ryan Matsuoka and Greg Palmer were both honored as All Independent Tournament selections, joining University of Dallas’ Ross Davidson, Nebraska Wesleyan’s Jonah Bradley and Chapman’s Griffin Ramme and Justin Riley on the honor team.