LOS ANGELES — The Occidental College men's basketball team was on the wrong side of history last season when they became the first team in 26 years to lose a SCIAC men's basketball game to Caltech.

The Tigers (6-6, 1-0) were ripe for the picking.

They had just been eliminated from the SCIAC postseason tournament, it was the last game of the year, it was on the road and Caltech's senior night.

Then it actually happened.

Ryan Elmquist, a 2010-11 NCAA Division III All-West Region performer, hit the first of two free throws capping a 9-0 run to end the game that beat the Tigers 46-45, breaking a 310-game losing streak that spanned all the way back to Jan. 23, 1985.

Before 1985, the last team to lose to Caltech in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play was Pomona-Pitzer in 1980 coached by Gregg Popovich, four-time NBA champion as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

People saw the ESPN highlights and New York Times story, but what most don't realize is this isn't your father's Caltech team. … Or even your older brother's.

Before upsetting Oxy, Caltech had taken SCIAC tournament champion the University of Redlands to overtime before losing and lost by one point to the University of La Verne earlier in the season.

Tonight the teams meet for the first time since the historic game at 7:30 p.m. in Rush Gymnasium and the Beavers (5-7, 0-1) have already matched last season's win total.

Both Caltech and Oxy have beaten the University of Dallas this year by 10-plus points and lost to Stevens Institute of Technology by double digits. Oxy lost to West Coast Baptist, while the Beavers beat the Eagles.

Comparing scores of common opponents does little to show which team is better or how they'll fare once they're on the same court, but in this case it at least illustrates that it shouldn't be anything but very competitive on Wednesday.

"What happened last year was great for the entire Caltech community. No one wants to give up the milestone homerun, but our guys left it all out on the court and lost to a well-coached and very capable team," Occidental coach Brian Newhall said. "We've been preparing for tonight's matchup like we would against any good SCIAC team. We know that every night in this conference you have to bring you best game to win and that's what we'll try to do tonight."

The Tigers are led by junior forward Deshun McCoy (Los Angeles), who's 17.5 points per game are third best in the SCIAC, and senior guard and perennial all-leaguer Jack Hanley (Seattle), second on the team with 13.5 ppg.

Caltech is led by 6-foot-7 junior forward Michael Edwards (Canyon Country), currently fourth in the SCIAC in scoring averaging 16.8 a night.