The University of Redlands men's basketball team headed to Northern California to take on the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz in a non-conference tilt on Wednesday night. In a balanced team effort, the Bulldogs downed UCSC, 72-50.
Although the Banana Slugs built a 9-3 lead through the first four minutes of action, senior guard Thomas Scriven (Anaheim, CA) made a layup that sparked a 6-0 run to knot the score at 9-9 at the 14:40-minute mark in the first.
Over the next few minutes, junior guard Jack Roggin (Calabasas, CA) and senior guard David Menary (Grass Valley, CA) teamed up and were responsible for Redlands' next eight points. Roggin initiated the scoring with a jumper off a D. Menary pass. On UCSC's next possession, Roggin swiped a steal that turned into points on a D. Menary layup on a fastbreak. D. Menary followed that with a trey-ball to give the Maroon and Gray a 21-11 lead with 10:25 left in period.
The Bulldogs continued to play hard on both ends of the court, causing turnovers and blocking shots and turning them into points to build a 37-18 lead by halftime.
Sophomore forward Kameron Wright (Fontana, CA) found an open senior guard Hass Berry (Riverside, CA) for a bucket from beyond the arc to open the second-half scoring. Wright made his two subsequent free throws to make the score 42-23.
Although the Banana Slugs found some momentum in the next couple of minutes, junior forward Spencer Bandow (Covina, CA) entered the game at 16:41 and made an immediate impact with a three-pointer off a pass from Scriven to stretch the lead to 45-32.
Senior wing Brittian Foster (Long Beach, CA) bookended a 6-0 run with two layups both assisted by sophomore guard Colin Au (Rolling Hills Estates, CA) for a 51-32 score at the 13:31-minute mark.
The Bulldogs continued to dominate as junior wing Gary Menary (Grass Valley, CA) sunk two free-throws with just 3:16 left in the game, to give Redlands its biggest lead of the night at 71-45. Although UCSC ended the game on a 5-1 run, the Bulldogs had built a comfortable lead to take the win 72-50.
The Maroon and Gray got it done on offense and defense, scoring 19 points off of turnovers and 12 second-chance points. Redlands bench also impressed with 34 points.
The Bulldogs (4-1) open conference play at Occidental College on Wednesday, December 4, at 7 p.m.
