Caltech Beats La Verne in Final 10 Seconds for Its First Conference Win in Five Years

When Caltech beat La Verne Wednesday night, it was the Beavers’ first conference basketball victory in 59 games. Caltech had not won in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference since 1980, when it beat Pomona-Pitzer.

Of course, the losing streak hadn’t been much cause for concern on the Pasadena campus, since Caltech had lost 103 straight conference games before beating Pomona-Pitzer. That was a 10-year run of conference defeats.

So things didn’t exactly get out of hand Wednesday when Caltech came from behind in the final 10 seconds to score a 48-47 victory. “I think the players went to dinner with the coach following the game,” said Caltech spokesman Warren G. Emery.

Apparently nothing has been the same since the 1971-72 season, when Caltech beat both Redlands and Claremont-Mudd for a 2-8 league record. “That was a fairly good year,” Emery said. La Verne’s record this season is 0-17.