In the final game of the 2009-10 campaign, the Caltech men's
basketball team placed three players in double figures and secured
16 offensive rebounds only to fall victim to Whittier College,
93-61. Costly turnovers early in the game and misconnections on
field goal attempts helped the visiting Poets run away with the win
in Pasadena on Caltech's Senior Night.
Whittier jumped out to an 11 point lead, 13-2, but the Beavers were
able to trim the margin to seven behind two straight jumpers from
freshmen guards Mason Freedman and Pan Wang. The Poets, however,
answered with a 16-1 run that saw the gap widen to 22 points, 29-7
with 8:41 left in the first half. An offensive board and put-back
by first-year forward Marcus Lucas, followed by a Wang 3-pointer,
helped Caltech slightly cut its deficit to 17, 29-12, 30 seconds
later. The point differential hovered around 20 for the rest of the
period as the Beavers were never able to pull within 18 despite
gaining scoring contributions from other key freshmen Mike Edwards,
Collin Murphy, and Alex Runkel. Whittier held a 49-27 halftime
advantage as it shot 55.6 percent from the field.
The Beavers were spectacular on the boards in the first 20 minutes
as they outrebounded the Poets 23-19, with eight caroms coming on
the offensive glass. Though Caltech saw seven different players in
the scoring column, the hosts hit only 9 of 33 shots (27.3 percent)
and suffered from 16 turnovers that led to 19 opponent points.
The teams went back-and-forth as the second half opened, and
although Whittier extended its lead to 27 (61-34) with 15:00 on the
clock, the Beavers battled behind six straight points by junior
Ryan Elmquist followed by jump shots by Edwards and Murphy. Down
65-44 with 11:09 to play, the squads essentially traded baskets.
Caltech was unable to get closer than 21, though Elmquist, with 16
second half points, continued to be aggressive and put up points
from inside and out. Whittier gradually found itself up 30 as the
two active Caltech seniors, Ruslan Kurdyumov and ZeNan Chang,
entered the ball game for their final moments as college basketball
players. The Poets shot 51.7 percent in the second half.
As they have done all season, the Beavers defended the 3-point line
as the visitors hit just 2 of 13 shots from behind the arc (15.4
percent). Though Caltech only committed six turnovers in the second
stanza, it still only made 29 percent of its field goals. For the
game, Whittier held a slim profit in the rebound category,
43-41.
Edwards led Caltech in scoring for the 18th time this season with
18 points and 8 rebounds. Elmquist finished with 17 and 7. Wang
scored a career-high ten points while Lucas snagged eight boards.
Murphy added eight points, eight rebounds, and two assists.
With 64 field goal attempts, the Orange and White set a program
record for shot attempts in a season while Elmquist became the
season leader in free throw attempts. Earlier in the year, he broke
the mark for blocked shots in a season, and the Beavers as a unit
entered Institute history for most team blocks during a campaign.
Murphy, with his two steals, entered the top 10 for a season and
Edwards, who already fixed himself into a top 10 theft
classification, was inked into the fourth spot for season free
throw percentage. Edwards ended his first college quest just ten
points off the mark for most points scored in one season, which was
set by Jordan Carlson as a senior in 2005-06 with 479.
GO TECH!!!
BOXSCORE
