At the Second Annual Men's Basketball Alumni Event Night, junior
Ryan Elmquist manufactured a double-double and, with four blocked
shots, tied an Institute record for swats in a season (47) in a
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC)
game against Occidental College. The program's previous sole record
holder for blocks, Ben Turk '98, was in attendance after being
honored earlier in the evening as part of the unveiling of the
1,000 Point Club.
Occidental scored the first four points of the contest, but
Elmquist nailed a 3-pointer at the 17:16 mark to put the Beavers on
the board. The visiting Tigers forged ahead by six, 11-5, but
another shot from downtown by freshman Mike Edwards and two free
throws by Elmquist helped Caltech pull to within one point, 11-10,
with 11:18 remaining in the half. From that instance, Occidental
took control of the game and closed the half on a 24-3 run as
Caltech missed all 10 of its final field goal attempts in the
period. Though the Beavers held the Tigers to 35.9 percent shooting
in the half, the hosts connected on a mere 3 of 21 field goal
attempts (14.3 percent) and found themselves down 35-13.
Caltech started the second half strongly as freshman Collin
Murphy connected on a short jumper in the paint and freshman Alex
Runkel maneuvered in the post for a nifty layup. Runkel then found
Edwards streaking to the basket for an easy two with a full court
outlet pass that closed the margin to 18, 37-19, with 17:40 on the
clock. That is as close as the Beavers would draw, however, as the
Tigers responded with an 11-4 spurt that saw Caltech unable to
convert another field goal until a 3-pointer by freshman Mason
Freedman at the 10:48 mark. Freedman's shot trimmed the lead to
48-26, but Occidental was able to extend the gap with well timed
offensive rebounds and steals that led to two breakaway dunks to
extinguish any thought of a Caltech surge.
With the 72-41 win, Occidental maintains its pace in the SCIAC
playoff race with three games left in the season. The young Beavers
host Pomona-Pitzer this Wednesday in one of two remaining home
games.
After a dismal first half shooting line, Caltech responded by
making 9 of 17 field goals (52.9 percent) in the second stanza.
Elmquist's 19 point and 10 rebound performance was his third
double-double of the year. Edwards added 12 points, two blocks, and
one steal. Runkel scored four points, grabbed nine boards, and had
two assists.
Edwards moved into fourth place and ahead of George Papa '94,
who was also in the crowd as a 1,000 point scorer honoree, for most
points scored in a season (415). Elmquist, who averages 13.0 points
and 6.3 rebounds per game, is ranked in the nation's top 30 in
blocks (2.1 bpg) and is the conference leader in that category.
Caltech, which already broke the program record for team blocks in
a season (76 in 2008-09), has 88 in the current campaign.
GO TECH!!!
BOXSCORE
