Redlands, Calif. – University of California-Santa Cruz (2-3) scored a tying basket with 1.4 seconds left in the first five-minute overtime period and outscored Arizona Christian University (1-6), 14-6, in the second overtime and prevailed 92-86 over the Firestorm in first-round tournament action at the 64th Lee Fulmer Men's Basketball Tournament at the University of Redlands (Calif.), Thursday, Dec. 1. Arizona Christian reached a season-high for points (86) 

Senior guard Josh Cole (Phoenix, Ariz./Westview H.S.) totaled a season-high 18 points for ACU, hitting 7 of 12 shots, with one three-pointer, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals, and sophomore guard Albert Suniga (Phoenix, Ariz./Tolleson Union H.S.) finished with a career- high 25 points, including 9 of 10 free throws and 8 of 12 field goals, and also grabbed 6 rebounds. Four Firestorm players reached double figures in points, and three UCSC players scored 16 of more led by senior forward Tyler Hunt with 22 points on 7 of 14 shots and 7 of 8 free throws. 

ACU trailed 41-31 at halftime and fell behind by 13 points, 48-35, with 16:47 left in regulation time and tied the game six times in the next 14 minutes of action. ACU then trailed by six, 68- 62, with 1:59 left in the second half and tied the game at 68-68 on a driving lay-up by Cole with 25.7 seconds left and forced overtime. 

In the first overtime, ACU made all four of its field goal attempts, including a three-pointer by Cole that gave the Firestorm a 75-73 lead with 2:11 left. ACU led 77-73 after a lay-up by Suniga but missed two bonus situation free throws in the last 26 seconds that could have added to ACU's lead and also would have resulted in two more free throw attempts. 

UC-Santa Cruz made three free throws in the last 1:21 to cut ACU's lead to 77-76, and Suniga's free throw with seven seconds left gave ACU a 78-76 lead. Hunt scored a lay-up off an alley- oop pass from guard Nathan Mohri to tie the game at 78-78 and force a second overtime. 

During the second overtime, the Banana Slugs led by as many as seven points, 89-82 with one minute left. ACU cut the UCSC lead to 90-86 with 33 seconds on Suniga's offensive rebound and basket. Down by six, Suniga missed a three-pointer with 38 seconds left, and Cole was fouled on the rebound but proceeded to miss both free throws in a double-bonus situation. ACU boarded the second errant charity toss and missed a second three-pointer with 35 seconds left. 

After shooting just .417 in the first half while falling behind by 10, Arizona Christian shot an excellent .611 (22-36) in the second half and overtime periods and finished with a fine .533 shooting percentage for the game (32-60). ACU also made 4 of 16 three-pointers (.250) and 18 of 24 free throws (.750), committed 26 turnovers which results in 26 gift points for the Banana Slugs, and stole the ball six times. The Firestorm also out-rebounded UCSC by a slight 42-39 margin. UCSC shot .449 for the game (31-69), made 7 of 21 three-point field goal attempts (.333) and 23 of 36 free throws (.639) and committed 19 turnovers and stole the ball from ACU 18 times. 

Supporting the efforts of Cole and Suniga were sophomore forward Daniel Cornelius (Phoenix, Ariz./Phoenix Christian H.S./Vanguard University) with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double double, and freshman forward Jared Culbert (Henderson, Nev./Coronado H.S.) with 14 points, on 6 of 8 shots, and 7 rebounds. Junior guard A.J. Koch (Tucson, Ariz./Flowing Wells H.S.) added 8 points, 2 three-pointers and 2 rebounds before fouling out late 

in the contest.