PASADENA, Calif. (Feb. 18, 2009) – Occidental came out on fire tonight, jumping out to an 11-0 lead before the host Beavers battled to make it a tight game for the first ten minutes of the contest.  But then an onslaught of interior scoring stretched the lead late in the half, and the Tigers were never threatened again, as they cruised to a road win at Caltech.

After jumping out to an early lead, Occidental then started to settle for jumpers and Caltech quickly converted the misses into a scoring burst that cut the lead to one with a little over 12 minutes to play.  A quick timeout by long time head coach Brian Newhall stymied the momentum, as the Tigers came out with a renewed focus and exposed the interior defense of the Beavers.  Pounding the ball inside and exploding for 28 points in the paint.  When they weren't finishing around the rim, they were traveling to the charity stripe, where they were 10 of 11 from the line.

The Tigers cruised into halftime with a 23 point lead and Caltech never got any closer, as Occidental handed the Beavers (1-22, 0-12) an 85-49 loss.

Sean Anderson led the Tigers with 20 points while Jack Hanley poured in 15.  Senior forward Justin Goltz filled up the stat sheet with 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, and one block.   

Caltech looked to Han Bin Man who scored 15 points in only 16 minutes of play.  While Ryan Elmquist dropped 12 and Matthew Dellatorre contributed 11 points.  Elmquits also led the Beavers with six rebounds.   

Occidental improves to 10-13 overall and are now even at 6-6 in SCIAC play, which leaves them three games behind a logjam in the standings.  As of right now Cal Lutheran, Whittier, Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sit in a four way tie for first place in the conference with identical 9-3 records.  With only two games to play, though, the Tigers will not advance to the SCIAC Conference Post Season tournament, and will finish the season with games against La Verne and Redlands.

Saturday evening the Tigers will host the University of La Verne in their final home contest of the year.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. following a 5:00 p.m. game between the women's teams to determine a SCIAC Champion.