SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The George Fox men's basketball team picked up their first win of the season after a 53-point second-half effort sealed up a 91-71 win over the CalTech Beavers. 

How It Happened
Neither team hit ten points until seven minutes into the game, as CalTech took a 10-8 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half with both teams struggling to convert shot opportunities. After the 13-minute mark, however, both teams began to catch their stride, the Bruins especially. The Bruins outscored the Beavers 30-20 over the rest of the half, powered by 12 points from Aidan Price, who led the way in scoring for the Bruins in the game. 

The key run in the half came in the form of a four-minute 12-2 run with 8 minutes left in the game, to take Fox from down one, 19-18, to up nine, 30-21. Sophomore Noah Marte had two key quick threes off the bench to fuel the run, and the GFU defense forced seven turnovers in the stretch. Overall for the half, the Bruins forced 11 turnovers – with six steals – and held the Beavers to just 30% from the floor. Fox headed into the break up, 38-30. 

The Bruins struggled shooting in the first half – going just 2-11 from behind the arc and shooting 43.8% from the field – but not in the second; in the second half, Fox shot 50% from three-point land, and over 58% from the field as the offense was humming. The Beavers pulled to within four points at the start of the half, 40-36, before the GFU offense responded with a 10-3 run to push the lead out to 50-39. 

By the ten-minute mark of the half Fox had managed to increase the lead from 11 to 16, 64-48. The largest of the game would be 24, just a few moments after pushing the lead out to 16, the Bruins went on an 8-0 run to catapult their lead to 72-48. The deficit would be too much for the Beavers to overcome, as the Bruins cruised to close out the 20-point win, 91-71. Fox hit six threes in the second half, and iced the game from the free throw line, going 11-13 at the charity stripe. 

Top Performances
Sophomore Aidan Price and Senior Momo Stokes bombarded the Beavers, each pouring in 23 points and combining for 46 of the Bruins' 91. Stokes added 10 assists to give himself his first double-double of the season. 

Coach's Thoughts
"Great first win," Bruin head coach Maco Hamilton said, "I was proud of our guys for having urgency to execute areas we addressed after last night's game. Still plenty of work to do though."

What It Means
The Bruins are now 1-1 on the young season, while CalTech is 0-2. 

What Comes Next
The Bruins play their final game of the UCSC Tournament on Sunday, November 10th, against UC Santa Cruz. Tip-off is at 2 pm.