The University of Redlands men's basketball team further secured its No. 4 seed in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Postseason Tournament with a 62-51 win over Caltech in Pasadena on Saturday night.  After leading for most of the contest, the Bulldogs pushed past a relentless Beaver squad to capture the important win and head into the final game of the regular season with great momentum.  

Against Caltech, Redlands came out firing and quickly built a 10-2 advantage by the 13:46-mark of the first half. Senior guard Joey Sponheim (Redlands, CA) scored six of these points for the Maroon and Gray.

About eight minutes later, the Bulldogs remained in control with an 18-12 lead that included points off a tip-in by first-year forward Kameron Wright(Fontana, CA).  In addition, sophomore guard Michael Hanna (Murrieta, CA) delivered a dime of a pass to first-year forward Gary Menary (Grass Valley, CA) for a triple before driving the lane for a layup on the Bulldogs' next possession.

Although Caltech cut it to one, the Maroon and Gray answered with a 7-0 scoring spree for a 25-17 lead with 2:11 left in the first half.  Junior forward David Menary(Grass Valley, CA) closed out the run with a gutsy and-one play after junior guard Thomas Scriven's (Anaheim, CA) steal.

Sophomore forward Spencer Bandow's (Covina, CA) well-timed trey sent the Bulldogs into the locker room at halftime with a 28-22 advantage.

However, the Beavers entered the second half with a new sense of urgency and eventually grabbed their largest lead of the night at 40-33 with 13:07 to go.  But Sponheim and junior guard Brittian Foster (Long Beach, CA) answered the call for the Bulldogs by collectively scoring 11 points over the next three minutes.

With the score tied at 44, Redlands began its strong finish to the game with sophomore forward Parker Landolf's (Alamo, CA) back-to-back three-pointers setting the tone.  In addition, the Menary brothers stepped up for the team's final 12 points, including D. Menary's dunk at the 3:59-mark and G. Menary's triple less than a minute later.

Overall, D. Menary and Sponheim combined for 31 points, with Sponheim knocking down 70% of his shots.  In addition, G. Menary hauled in nine rebounds and snagged four steals in a solid defensive showing.

Redlands out-shot the Beavers, 43.4% to 31.5%, which included a 14% difference from three-point range. The Bulldogs also won the rebounding battle with a 40-33 margin.

Redlands (14-10, 9-6 SCIAC) hosts the University of La Verne for Senior Night on Tuesday, February 19, at 7 p.m. in Currier Gym.