PASADENA, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2010) - The Caltech Beavers were
thinking upset tonight, and for the first 10 minutes of this
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game, they
made everyone in the building into believers. Except for the
Tigers, breaking up a one point game by ending the first half on
24-3 run that ended the upset bid, and kept the black and orange in
the hunt for a playoff berth with the 72-41 road win.
The defense ignited the run by forcing six turnovers and not
allowing a basket over the final 11 minutes of the first
half. Sean Anderson had a huge opening
stanza, securing a double double before intermission, with 14
points and 10 rebounds. Deshun McCoy
spearheaded the defensive attack with three steals while helping
the Tigers control the boards with seven rebounds.
Caltech ended the half by only shooting 14.3% from the field,
connecting on three shots over the first 20 minutes, as they
struggled to handle the level of intensity the Tigers displayed on
both ends of the floor.
Emerging from the locker room up 35-13, the black and orange
kept up the defensive pressure, but the Beavers came out with a
renewed composure and did a much better job moving the
basketball. Which led to them shooting 52.9% in the second
half, but they still lost the half by double digits, and fell to
0-22 and 0-11 in the SCIAC. But Ryan Elmquist was a bright
spot for the home squad, as he led Caltech with 19 points and 10
rebounds.
Oxy, on the other hand, found scoring from several
players. Anderson finished with a game high 20 points, but
was not the only player with a double double, as McCoy accounted
for 14 points and 10 rebounds. Huston Conti
dropped 10 points, including two triples, while Jack
Hanley finished with 11 points on only 4-6 shooting.
The win elevates the Tigers to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in the
SCIAC. An important win because Cal Lutheran kept their
postseason hopes alive with a win over Pomona Pitzer tonight, which
tightened up the standings quite a bit. Conference leading
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps sits alone at 10-1, but the next four teams
are only separated by two games. Redlands sits in second at
8-3, Oxy at 7-4 is locked into third, but now Cal Lutheran and
Pomona Pitzer sit tied for the final SCIAC playoff berth at
6-5. With three games to go, a lot can change over the final
two weeks of the regular season.
Next up for Oxy is the University of La Verne, on February
17th in Rush Gymnasium tipoff is at 7:30pm.
Article by Mike Talamantes, Sports Information
Assistant
