The University of Redlands men's basketball made it two in a row with a 79-76 victory over UC Santa Cruz in tonight's semifinal of the 63rd Annual Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament in Currier Gym.

The Bulldogs overcame an early six-point deficit before garnering a 10-point lead early in the second half. But turnovers plagued the Maroon and Gray, allowing the Banana Slugs to work their way back into the game. Solid shooting down the stretch gave Redlands the edge in the final seconds en route to an exciting win.

Down by 10 with 16:21 to go, Santa Cruz rallied to cut the Bulldogs' lead to one just five minutes later. During this span, Darrin Lew provided eight of his 16 points.

Redlands rallied to earn a six-point advantage, but saw it disappear as the Banana Slugs tied it up for the fourth time at 69 apiece with 4:27 on the clock.

Ryan Matsuoka hit one of his five three-pointers less than two minutes later to give Santa Cruz its first lead of the second half.

However, a clutch three-pointer by senior guard Kent Ervin (Bend, OR) put the Bulldogs back on top at 78-74 with 44 seconds remaining.

Forced to foul, UCSC benefitted with back-to-back Redlands misses. Followed by a Matsuoka falling jumper, the Banana Slugs made it a two-point game with eight seconds left.

Again forced to foul, Santa Cruz sent senior forward Matt Dietrich (Phoenix, AZ) to the line, who converted the front side of the one-and-one play, putting the Bulldogs up by three.

A desperation shot from long range by the Banana Slugs missed the mark, resulting in the exciting 79-76 victory for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore guard Tristan Kirk (Redlands, CA) and senior center Jordan Sanvictores (Redwood City, CA) carried the offensive load for Redlands, providing 19 and 18 points, respectively. Kirk went 8-for-11 while also dishing out three assists before landing in foul trouble late in the second half. Sanvictores also nabbed four rebounds and two steals for the Bulldogs.

Sophomore guard Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA) came off the bench for 10 points, including four points in a span of less than two minutes late in the game.

Senior guard Patrick Keating (Fountain Hills, AZ) dished out a game-high six assists.

As a team, Redlands shot 56% from the field, which included a mark of 35.7% from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs hit a stellar 81.8% of their attempts from the charity stripe, highlighted by a perfect 11-for-11 showing in the first half.

Santa Cruz gained a game-high 29 points from Matsuoka, going 10-for-17 overall and 5-for-8 from long range.

The Banana Slugs posted a 37.7 shooting percentage while providing a 36.8% performance from three-point land.

Redlands (2-3) looks forward to Saturday's championship game against Chapman University (5-1), which captured a 78-62 victory over Whittier College (3-2) earlier today. The Bulldogs strive to avenge their recent loss to the Panthers during tomorrow's showdown at 7:30 p.m.

Santa Cruz (4-5) takes on Whittier in the third-place game at 5:30 p.m.

Earlier today, Whittier overcame a 12-point first-half deficit to garner a two-point advantage late in the first half.

But this lead was short-lived as Chapman erupted with a 25-6 run, making it a 56-39 game with 12:32 to go in the second frame.

The Panthers extended it to 19 less than three minutes later, relying on their stellar 58.6% second-half shooting display.

However, Whittier fought back to cut it to 11 but that was as close as it would get.

Chapman had four players in double figures with Griffin Ramme leading the team with 17. He provided 11 points in the first six-and-a-half minutes of the game, knocking down all three of his long-range shots. In addition, he dished out seven assists and recorded four steals in 28 minutes of action.

Ben Ricard came off the bench for 16 points, six boards, and three assists, while Max Piner added 15 points. Brandon Lin rounded out the top Panther scorers with 14 and also provided an impressive seven assists.

Whittier gained 19 points from Paul Davis, who went 4-for-7 from long range as a spark off the bench. Greg Preer was the only starter in double digits with 16 points.

In an anticipated showdown between evenly matched teams, the Eagles of Southwestern College captured a solid 77-58 win over the Beavers of Caltech by taking a 5-4 lead and never relinquishing control of the game.

Southwestern held a 27-point advantage early in the second half and the Beavers mounted a comeback effort that fell short, cutting it to 15 with three minutes to play.

The Eagles looked to Daniel Stanton to lead all scorers with 20 points, which included three baskets from beyond the arc. He also contributed seven boards, three assists, and one steal.

Joshua Cole backed him with 13 points, seven boards, and two assists. Houston Friend, A.J. Koch, and John Irvine each had nine points.

Todd Cramer led the Beavers with 15 points and 14 rebounds for a double-double. He also tallied four assists and one steal. Mike Paluchniak and Ryan Elmquist each chipped in nine points.

Southwestern (2-4) now faces off against West Coast Baptist College (2-6) in tomorrow's consolation championship at 3:30 p.m. Caltech (0-5) battles it out with American Sports University (2-8) for seventh place at 1:30 p.m.

In today's opening game, West Coast Baptist mustered a 16-3 run to overcome a 13-point deficit midway through the opening period. Akeem Smith and Terrence Cooper accounted for nearly all of the Eagles' points during this span.

West Coast continued to control the game as Cooper nailed back-to-back free throws in the final seconds of the first half to surge ahead 36-27 at the break.

The Eagles built off of this lead with a solid 42.1% second-half shooting performance, making it a 21-point game with less than seven minutes to go.

Cooper posted a game-high 23 points, shooting 9-for-11, to go along with nine rebounds. Ryan Molencupp came off the bench for 10 points, while T.J. Tibbs provided an impressive effort with 10 rebounds and seven points. In addition to his eight points, Smith dished out eight assists and nabbed five steals.

American Sports University's Josh Rayne led his team with 17 points and nine rebounds. Chris Plummer added 12 as the only other double-digit scorer.

For complete tournament results, please log onto http://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/files/Fulmer.