PORTLAND, Ore. – Lewis & Clark College men's basketball was in a back-and-forth battle in game one of the Lewis & Clark Thanksgiving Classic on Saturday afternoon., but UC Santa Cruz pulled away late in the second half to take an 81-72 win.  
 
THE BASICS
 
UC Santa Cruz 81, Lewis & Clark 72
(Lewis & Clark 1-3)
(UC Santa Cruz 4-3)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Pioneers had the top three scorers of the contest on Saturday, led by junior Isaac Ticeson, who finished with 17 points on 8-11 shooting in 23 minutes of play. Fellow junior Sam Henderson hit two late three-pointers to finish the day with 15 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore Taien Jackson added 15 points, six rebounds and four assists.
 
Neither team led by more than four points in the first half of play that had 12 ties and nine lead changes before halftime. Junior Griffin Datcher IV hit two free throws a minute before the end of the first half to give Lewis & Clark a 42-39 advantage heading into the break. Datcher finished with eight points, a team-leading 11 rebounds and tied Jackson with four assists.
 
The Banana Slugs scored the first seven points of the second half to take a four-point lead with just under 18 minutes to go in the game. Ticeson then scored the next six points and started an 11-0 fun to give the Pioneers a 53-46 lead with just under 13 minutes to go. Junior Mikey Medlock Jr. scored four of his seven points during the spurt.
 
UC Santa Cruz tied the game at 60 with 7:13 left in the game and held a 66-62 advantage at the final media timeout. The Slugs took their largest lead, 79-66, with 40 seconds to go before Henderson hit threes on back-to-back possessions to cut into the lead.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Ticeson has averaged 16.5 ppg and shot 84.2% (16-19) for the Pioneers in the last two games.
• Jackson, Medlock and Datcher finished with two steals each to lead the team.
• Henderson is shooting a team-high 53.8% (7-13) from beyond the arc to start the season.
• The Pioneers held the advantage in every shooting category on Saturday, besting the Slugs in FG% (39.1% - 35.1%), 3PT% (26.3% - 18.2%) and FT% (72.2% - 70%), but UC Santa Cruz hit eight more free throws on 12 more attempts than Lewis & Clark.

WHO'S NEXT
 
The Pioneers host Warner Pacific University Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in game three of the L&C Thanksgiving Classic.