BOX SCORE

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (Nov. 22) - The Saint Vincent men's basketball team opened the Hilton Slugs Winter Tournament with a 77-67 win over Caltech at Kaiser Permanente Arena in downtown Santa Cruz.

The Bearcats never trailed in the first half, scoring the game's first four points and eventually opening the lead to as many as 15 after a layup by Tom Weremeychik with 7:42 remaining, making the score 31-16.  The Beavers managed to cut the lead to seven (31-24) after going on an 8-point run, but a bucket by Sean Kett, followed by a Ben Klimchock three-pointer ran the lead back to twelve, 36-24.

At the half, SVC led by eleven, 41-30.

Just over five minutes into the second half, a strong comeback by Caltech cut the SVC lead to just two, 44-42, but a steal and fastbreak by JC Howard, followed by a Howard rebound that led to a fastbreak by Isaac Turner reestablished the lead at six for the Bearcats.

A blocked shot by Howard later led to a fastbreak score by Pat Jones, extending the lead to eleven, 53-42.

However, the Beavers once again went on an 8-0 run, with a jumper by Lawrence Lee making it a three-point game, 53-50, with 8:59 left.

With 6:40 to go, Lee scored again, tying the game, 55-55, the first time on the afternoon that the game had been tied.

The Bearcats quickly called time out to regroup, and just three seconds later, Howard drew a foul and went to the line.  He missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Dillon Stith followed with a score on the rebound, giving SVC the lead once again.  This time, the Bearcats would never relinquish it.

Turner led all scorers on the day with 21 points, while Stith added 18.  Klimchock tallied 13 while Howard scored 12.  Kett was the lone Bearcat starter not to score double figures in points, but he made up for it with a game-high 15 rebounds.  Stith added 9 boards, while Jones had 7.   On the day, SVC out-rebounded Caltech by a 49-33 margin. 

With the win, the Bearcats advance to Saturday's championship game at 3 p.m. PST (6 p.m. EST) against tournament host UC-Santa Cruz. SVC improves to 3-1 on the season while California Institute of Technology drops to 1-2.