Los Angeles, CA — The Occidental men's basketball team hosted the Caltech Beavers at Rush Gym in a Friday night non conference game.
Oxy started the game on a quick 5-0 run from Micah Breaux who hit a jump shot and a 3-pointer. Henry Wilson would then go on his own 5-0 scoring run to get the Oxy lead to 10-3 out of the gate.
Caltech battled back to get the lead down to 4 before Nicky Clotfelter knocked down a trey ball to extend the lead to 18-11. With 8 minutes to go before the end of half, Oxy would go on a 13-0 offensive run capped off by Breaux driving and making a layup to put the score at 33-15.
The Tigers put together another scoring run with an 8-0 burst to put them up by 21 with 1:14 to play before halftime. Oxy led by a score of 41-24 with both Breaux and Wilson leading the way with nine points each in the half.
Oxy came out with the same energy in the second half, with Breaux making a nice pass to Jacob Hamermesh for an easy basket in the paint to open up the half.
After a physical defensive stop on one end, Oxy would get an open look at a transition three-pointer that Daniel Ribiero knocked down to extend the lead to 25 points with 13 minutes left in regulation.
A couple of Oxy possessions later, Mateo Tangaan used a sweet pass to find Alex McCleery Brown free in the paint for an easy basket. McCleery Brown scored the next three Oxy baskets, all assisted by Nicky Clotfelter, and Oxy's lead was 64-33 with just over 10 minutes of play remaining.
Daniel Ribiero added onto the lead with a swish on shot from 3-point range on the next Tiger offensive possession, and got fouled on a three-pointer a few possessions later, making two-of-three free throw attempts.
The Beavers would be unable to get within striking distance of a comeback for the remainder of the game, and Oxy went on to win by a score of 81-54 . Alex McCleery Brown's second half scoring surge propelled him to being the leading scorer in the game for Oxy with 15 points, shooting six-for-seven from the field.
Nicky Clotfelter led Oxy with 12 rebounds and also had five assists for a share of the team lead with Breaux who also found an open teammate for a score five times.
The Tigers improve to 2-0 on the year and will next take the court against Scheiner University on Saturday, November 16th at 5:00pm.
