REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team (5-1, 1-0 SCIAC) opened up Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) play with an 81-point victory over California Institute of Technology (Caltech), 118-37, on Wednesday evening inside Currier Gym.
Lucas Gordon (San Marcos, CA) scored the first two points of the game and had a block on the first defensive possession. Jhace Boston (Bakersfield, CA) then came back down after the block finishing in the paint.
Chozen Amadi (Dallas, TX) then hit three-straight triples to make it 15-2 Bulldogs. Logan Dorsey (Los Angeles, CA) extended the lead to 14 a minute later after hitting a jumper in the paint and drawing a foul for the three-point play.
Following a Beaver made jumper, Gordon then knocked down a three off a Dayvon Gates (Carson, CA) assist as his three started a 13-0 run for the U of R. The other ten points came from Nathan Mattera (Fontana, CA), Omari Ferguson (Chicago, Ill.), Amadi, and Donovan Ware (Palmdale, CA).
Caltech showed fight, though, scoring the next seven unanswered points, while holding Redlands scoreless for nearly three minutes. But the surge by CIT ended quickly when Boston picked up a three off a Kendrick Currey (Manteca, CA) assist at the 6:04 mark, which started a 26-3 run ending the opening 20:00 minutes with the Bulldogs leading 57-16.
The opening points of the second half came on a Jake Hlywiak (Valencia, CA) three. Then at the 11:05 mark BJ Taylor (Corona, CA) found Evan Lucas (Concord, CA) for his first points of the game. Taylor then made it a 60-point advantage, 87-27, with two free throws.
The lead would be cut down to 54 with 9:47 to play before the Bulldogs finished the game off with 31 of the final 35 points, eleven of which came from Ware.
It was a balanced scoring effort with seven Bulldogs in double figures. Ware and Amadi both had 14 points thanks to four made three-pointers. Ferguson scored 15 points on only eight shots in just 18 minutes. The Bulldogs on the night forced 40 turnovers on the Beavers and turned them into 48 points. Thjey also added 22 second chance points, 78 bench points, 48 points in the paint, and 30 fastbreak points. They also finished shooting 55% from the field and 43.9% from deep.
Redlands' first big test of the season comes this Saturday, December 7 at 7:00 p.m. when they travel to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on RV California Lutheran University.
