CHICAGO — The Caltech men's basketball team took on the hosting University of Chicago Maroons on Saturday as part of the annual Midway Classic Tournament. The game begins a three-game road series for the Beavers, who will wrap up tournament play on Sunday before facing West Coast Baptist College on Nov. 16.
The two teams kicked off the first game of the tournament just after 2 p.m. local time and it was the Beavers who quickly jumped out to an early lead. Sophomore guard
Noah Hicks scored the first bucket of the day after finishing on a strong layup before first-year wing/forward connected on back-to-back three-pointers to electrify the Caltech bench.
The Maroons soon battled back to tie the contest at 10-10; the two teams went on to trade buckets, with the Beavers leading at 12-10 and again at 15-12.
A number of impressive shots by the home team put Chicago ahead as the squads headed to intermission.
The Beavers earned their first basket of the second half off yet another three from Hu. Caltech ate into the Maroons' lead after producing a nice 7-0 run in the middle of the second half, but it was not enough as Chicago stayed in front before the final buzzer sounded.
Hu led the Beavers in scoring with 16 points, tying for the most among all players from both teams. The rookie wrapped up his night going 6-for-12 from the field and 4-for-8 from deep; he added three rebounds and an assist with just one turnover.
Hicks earned 12 points on the night to go with a team-high five rebounds and three assists with only one turnover; the Georgia native was a perfect 4-for-4 from the charity stripe. First-year guard/wing
Andrew Koclanes and junior guard
James Downs each made a three.
The team scored seven second-chance points; they went 6-for-8 from the free throw line.
The Beavers will wrap up its road trip on Sunday as they face off against Albion College or Illinois Insitute of Technology at 9 a.m. PT, 11 a.m. local time. Follow along at GoCaltech.com/coverage.
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