Caltech basketball won its first game of the season on Saturday, when the men's team defeated American Sports University 74-67 in the Fulmer Tournament at the University of Redlands.
But perhaps what's even more significant is that the victory snaps a 44-game losing streak dating back to January 5, 2009. In that game, the Beavers beat NYU Polytechnic to give third-year head coach Oliver Eslinger his first win at Caltech. What's more, this latest win came on the road—something the Beavers haven't done since the 2001-2002 season.
Against ASU, Caltech stormed to a 10-0 lead, getting good shots and knocking them down. So far this season, Caltech hasn't been able to capitalize on open looks. "This game, we got even better shots—and we were making them," Eslinger said. They built a 24-7 lead that forced ASU to call a timeout. On defense, they held ASU to 20 points in the half.
After the break, Caltech extended the lead to 21 points with just over 17 minutes left. Then ASU made a run, coming to within five points. But the Beavers made their free throws, converting 12 of 15 in the second half (and 23 of 27 for the game), and held on for the win.
The victory came in the third and final round of the tournament, securing seventh place out of eight. But Caltech was no pushover and was competitive throughout, Eslinger says. In the opening round on Thursday, they played tough against UC Santa Cruz, a team coming off wins against Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont, two of Caltech's conference rivals. At one point, they led 21-13, and the game was close throughout before some costly mistakes caught up with them. The Beavers dropped their second game, against Southwestern, 77-58, but the three-day tournament with three road games provided invaluable experience for the young team, Eslinger said.
"I wanted to see how the guys would respond," he said. "We've only played one home game, but we have all this road experience now."
Senior Ryan Elmquist averaged 17.3 points and was selected to receive the All-Tournament Sportsmanship Award.
Written by Marcus Woo