SANTA CRUZ, Calif. –
Jaayden Bush made clutch plays in the end of regulation and overtime to lift Dominican men's basketball to a 63-62 victory Wednesday night over UC Santa Cruz at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Garrett Siebles led the way with 15 points, while
Marcus McCutchen added 11 points and eight boards for the Penguins (12-13). Avri Finch led the way for the Banana Slugs (8-14) with 17 points to go with six rebounds with Ian McCloskey adding 16 points.
McCloskey stole a ball with under a minute remaining in the game and Dominican leading 55-53 as he looked to tie the game on a fastbreak layup, but Bush chased him from behind and leaped high to block the shot off the glass and send Dominican back the other way clinging to the lead. The Penguins could not cash in on their opportunity and Finch made a step-back jumper along the baseline with a hand in his face to tie the game with 2.2 seconds remaining to send the game to overtime.
The overtime was a tight battle as the teams traded points until McCloskey drilled a 3-pointer from the left elbow off a screen to give UCSC the 62-60 lead. After a missed jumper by Dominican, McCloskey had a chance to seal the game from the charity stripe but he missed the front end of a one-and-one and McCutchen grabbed the defensive board and gave it to Bush who pulled up from 30-feet on the run to drill a go-ahead 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds remaining.
Justin Brown played great defense on the inbound to make sure the Banana Slugs had no clean looks on the inbound and the Penguins walked away from the tight battle victorious.
The teams started slow until
PJ Volz sparked a 6-0 Penguin run as he slashed to the basket for a layup and Dominican took an 11-5 lead with 12:55 remaining in the first half. The Banana Slugs closed the gap to two on a pair of Finch free throws but McCutchen and Bush made back-to-back layups to push the lead back to six with the clock ticking under nine minutes in the half.
After trading points for the next few minutes, Finch tied the game 19-19 with a hook shot and Justin Yasukochi added the next five points hitting a 3-pointer to cap the 9-0 run and give UCSC a 24-19 lead. McCutchen kept the game close at the half when he knocked down a short jumper before the buzzer to close the Penguin's deficit back to three.
Finch powered the Banana Slugs offense to start the second half as his layup with 17:39 remaining in regulation pushed the lead to 32-24. Volz scored four of the next five points to get Dominican back within three, but Yasukochi hit from distance again to halt the Dominican momentum. The teams continued to trade small runs but UCSC maintained its lead for most of the second half.
After Treyson Keating's layup gave the Banana Slugs an eight-point advantage with six minutes remaining, the Penguins began their climb back into the game. McCutchen scored three points to close the gap to five and
Jake Blazona made a key steal off a defensive rebound and kicked the ball to Siebels above the arc for a 3-pointer to close the gap to 52-50 with 4:27 remaining.
Justin Brown then found Siebels in the paint for two more to tie the game before Blazona dished it to Brown off a pick and roll to take the 54-52 lead with 2:38 remaining.
Dominican will return to the court Saturday to take on Academy of Art at 3:30 p.m. PST at Walter Gleason Gymnasium.
