PASADENA, Calif. -- The Missionaries shot 50 % from three-point land in grabbing their first victory of the season tonight, 87-73, over the California Institute of Technology at Braun Athletic Center.

With the victory, Whitman improves to 1-3 in the early season while Caltech drops to 1-4. This was the third straight road game for the Missionaries who cap off their California trip with a game against the University of Redlands Friday evening.

The Missionaries were 11 of 22 from beyond the arc with Dominic Lippi being the most dangerous, hitting 4 of 5 of his three-point attempts in tallying 12 points on the night. Matt Mounier hit two treys en route to his team-high 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Tochi Oti added 12 points and Evan Martin 10.

The Beavers were led by Luke Lango who poured in 17; Ricky Galliani tossed in 14 and Lee Lawrence 12 to round out the scorers in double figures for Caltech. The Beavers shot 50 % from the field while the Missionaries were 51.7 % (30 of 58).

Whitman jumped out to an 11-0 lead before the Beavers took a timeout. Lippi got things rolling with a three-pointer and Oti capped the run off with a layup. Caltech then began chipping away and got within three at 21-18 on a Lango drive to the hoop with a little over 13 minutes remaining in the half. The Missionaries pushed it back out to a five point advantage on a Mounier layup. The teams traded baskets for a few minutes before the Whitman retook control of the game, primarily via the three-pointer.

Wade Brock hit a three, followed by Lippi and then two by Mounier, the final trey made it a 12 point advantage at 39-27 with 5:53 remaining in the half. Whitman rode the momentum into halftime, making 8 points of their points from the foul line, to take a 51-38 lead.

In the second half, the Missionaries did not let up. They never allowed the lead to go below double digits and saw it grow to as large as 20. The closest the Beavers got was eleven points with less than 2 minutes gone in the second half. Kc Emezie made a layup to close the gap to 54-43, but Sean Hays responded with a bucket to push the lead back out to 13 and the threat was thwarted.

Friday's game against Redlands begins at 5 pm. The game can be viewed via live video by clicking on this link http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/redlands.portal#

Contact:

Andrew Holt

Whitman Sports Information Director

holtac@whitman.edu

509.527.5902