PASADENA, Calif. (November 26, 2011) – Senior forward Simon Smith (Cranford, N.J.) eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's basketball team downed California Institute of Technology, 91-78, Saturday night at the Braun Athletic Center in Pasadena, Calif. Smith finished with his fourth double-double in five tries, accumulating 20 points and 14 rebounds. Junior guard Sheldon Jones (Queens, N.Y.) and senior guard Michael Cutri (West Caldwell, N.J.) had 21 and 19 points, respectively, as the Ducks improve to 4-1 with the win.

Smith recorded his 1,000th point early, putting in a feed from Jones for the game's first tallies and the 999th and 1,000th of his career.

Three more layups, two from Jones and one from junior guard Russ Thompson (West Orange, N.J.), put the Ducks on top 8-0 in the early moments, and just 7:21 in, five-straight points from Cutri helped Stevens to a 21-10 lead, their first double digit margin of the evening.

Despite looking like they were overmatched early, Caltech fought back with 16 of the game's next 23 points, but after the Beavers trimmed the lead to two (28-26) with 3:29 in the first, Stevens erupted on a 12-0 run over a span of just 1:37 of game time and went into the locker room with a 13-point lead. Thompson started the run with a three-pointer as five different players notched baskets in the game-changing spurt.

The Ducks shot 67 percent from the floor and hit on three of their five attempts from three-point land. Stevens ended the first with a 19-10 edge on the boards and held the Beavers to just 36 percent from the field and 5-of-16 from long range.

Stevens continued to extend its lead in the second half, pushing the margin to 20 after a three-point play from sophomore forward Max Schwartz (Bridgewater, N.J.) with 12:20 to go. The lead moved to 23 thanks to a Thompson three-pointer, but the Beavers were able to a cut their deficit to 15 with 6:18 remaining. The quickly Ducks responded upping the edge back to 21 courtesy of two consecutive three-point plays from Jones spaced by just nine seconds and a steal from sophomore guard Matt Skrelja (Clark, N.J.).

Caltech knifed into the Stevens lead several times late, eventually getting within nine points with 39 seconds to play, but the Ducks hit their free throws and were never truly threatened in the 91-78 win.

Stevens shot 62.5 percent from the field (35-for-56) as Smith and Cutri each went 8-for-11. Stevens ended with a 39-27 margin on the boards and had 20 assists.

Smith added a pair of assists and steals to his line, while Cutri had a game-high five assists and three rebounds. Jones had four assists and three boards, while Thompson had 14 points, four assists, two rebounds and a steal. Skrelja tallied four points, four assists, a game-high three steals and two rebounds, while Schwartz had seven points and four boards off the bench.  Sophomore guard Andrew Meszaros (Phoenixville, Pa.) added six rebounds and four points in 19 minutes.

Junior forward Michael Edwards (Canyon Country, Calif.), junior center Alex Runkel (Villin Schwen, Germany), freshman guard Bryan Joel (Bethesda, Md.) and freshman forward Andrew Hogue (Arroyo Grande, Calif.) were all in double figures for the Beavers (1-2).

Caltech shot 42.9 percent (27-for-63) from the field and hit on 10 of their 27 attempts from three (37 percent).

Stevens returns to the hardwood on Sunday night at Occidental College. Tip is set for 7 p.m. Eastern and 4 p.m. Pacific.

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