TACOMA, Wash. — The Pacific Lutheran Men’s Basketball team closes out their non-conference schedule at home on Saturday night, dropping a close battle to the California Santa Cruz Banana Slugs, 81-79. Dom Perasso led all Lutes scorers with 16-points on a perfect five-for-five from the field.
The Banana Slugs opened the contest with an early 7-4 lead, then Emmett Holt and Mack Hepper led a 11-3 run for the Lutes to take a 15-10 advantage through the first six minutes. Another three from Hepper followed by five-straight points from Dom Perasso extended the PLU lead to 23-12 coming out of a Santa Cruz timeout.
Santa Cruz cashed in on a pair of threes to cut the deficit to 25-22 with eight left in the first, but coming out of the under-eight-minute timeout, the Slugs next run tied the game at 27 each. Four Lutes contributed to an 11-0 run over a five-minute stretch late in the first half, taking a 38-27 lead with 90-seconds to play. Santa Cruz then cut the lead to five before Jason Montes’ pull up jumper ended the half with the Lutes up 42-35…