PASADENA, Calif. – History was made tonight on the court at the Braun Athletic Center, but unfortunately for the visiting Tigers it was the Caltech Beavers who got to celebrate. Senior four-year starter Ryan Elmquist stood at the free-throw line with three seconds to play and when he hit the first of two shots he broke a tie, giving the Beavers a 46-45 victory over Occidental, ending a 26-year, 310-game losing streak in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
"Our program wins with class and loses with class," head coach Brian Newhall explained, "Caltech deserved to win tonight. Ryan Elmquist was the best player on the court; You have to give him credit for having a huge Senior Night."
And a senior sendoff, he did have, playing all 40 minutes. With nothing to lose, Elmquist certainly left it all on the court as he pulled on the Beavers' orange for the final time.
Although Occidental held Caltech to a shooting percentage of just 25 percent, Elmquist knocked down shots when he needed to most. The All-SCIAC forward was 15-for-19 from the charity stripe, tallying 23 points adding nine rebounds and four blocks.
Despite holding a 32-30 edge on the glass, rebounding was a problem for the Tigers tonight as they allowed CIT to come down with 15 offensive boards. Caltech those boards into 11 second chance points, one of the biggest keys and difference makers in the game.
Jake Copithorne finished with a game-high and career-high 16 rebounds, including three offensive with a block and four assists.
Occidental shot 48 percent from the floor as Kris Montoya led the squad with 15 points, followed by nine apiece from Sam Stapleton and Drew Dockweiler. Caltech targeted Jack Hanley who was coming off a career 33-point game, holding the junior to just five shots and four points.
Off the bench, Dockweiler shot 4-for-6 and played solid defense before fouling out with nearly four minutes remaining in regulation.
The game was tied five times and the lead changed eight. Oxy led by as much as eight, 45-37, after a Copithorne layup in the paint, but the home squad chipped away. Caltech never held more than a three-point lead (early in the game), but they had the advantage when it mattered most, as the final buzzer sounded.
"Congratulations to Caltech," Newhall said, "It was a hard fought and fundamentally sound game. They made the plays the last two minutes of the game and the took care of the basketball [just five turnovers]"
Stapleton picked up three of the Tigers' four steals in the loss.
"Obviously this is disappointing for our guys. We have quality people who study hard and play hard and I feel bad for them, but they will bounce back."
Back in 1979 San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich dropped a game to the Beavers and his career certainly went on. The four-time NBA champion is the only NBA coach to ever lose to Caltech.
The last time the Beavers won a SCIAC game was a 48-47 victory against the University of La Verne on Jan. 23, 1985, well before any of these players were born.
While this is not quite the way that the Tigers anticipated ending the 2011 season, it will be a factor for the future.
"I am sure this will be a nice bit of motivation going into the off season," Newhall concluded.
Occidental (12-13, 6-8) finished sixth in the league standings while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (15-9) and the University of Redlands (14-11) earned a share of the SCIAC Title with 11-3 conference records. Cal Lutheran University (14-11) and the University of La Verne (13-12) tied for third with 8-6 SCIAC marks.
