PASADENA — Andrew Johnson played maybe the best game of his young career, scoring 26 points with 11 rebounds, to lead the Occidental men's basketball team past a hot Caltech team, 71-57 on Saturday.

Oxy improves to 11-13 overall and 7-8 in SCIAC play. Caltech, which had won three of its last five games with victories over Redlands, Whittier and La Verne, falls to 4-20 and 3-12.

Johnson was 9 of 15 from the floor on mostly layups off of strong drives and had key rebounds to finish crucial stops for the Tigers. The sophomore scored 14 points in the second half, got to the foul line and even put the exclamation mark on the victory with a two-handed dunk with less than 1 minute left.

Kory Hamane was the x-factor off of the bench for the Tigers, making 5 of 7 threes for a 16-point contribution. Juwan Rice scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds and had three steals.

Oxy led the entire game and the Tigers' 28-23 halftime lead could have been larger if they hadn't shot 8 of 16 from the free throw line and 36 percent from the field in a physical and jittery first 20 minutes.

The Tigers settled in in the second half, shooting 9 of 11 from the line and 52 percent from the field in the second half. 

From the Coach: "I thought we played excellent defense tonight and that our full court pressure was the difference," Oxy head coach Brian Newhall said. "They are a tough, physical team, but forcing them into 20 turnovers and making them play fast worked for us."

Andrew Hogue led the Beavers with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Kc Emezie added 13 points.

Next Game: The Tigers finish the season against Cal Lutheran on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Rush Gymnasium.