Stupid News Story of The Day

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Caltech's suffering ends with victory By KEN PETERS, AP Sports Writer

PASADENA, Calif. - Nobody understands the laws of probability better than the cerebral players at Caltech. The Beavers finally won — their first NCAA basketball victory since 1996.

However, here's another hard number: They still have a string of conference defeats dating back almost 22 years.

Coach Roy Dow and his squad of brainy — as opposed to brawny — Beavers beat Bard College of New York 81-52 on Saturday night, ending a mathematically improbable run of 207 consecutive NCAA Division III losses.

"It was a combination of a sense of relief and happiness for the kids. They were euphoric," said Dow, in his fifth season as the coach.

Travis Haussler had 27 points and eight rebounds, and Matt Dellatorre added 24 points and eight rebounds in the romp over Bard.

"We expected to win a game, but not like this," Dow said, a bit astounded at the surprisingly easy victory.

The win also was Caltech's first in 60 games overall, including non-NCAA foes.

With a 1-207 record in their last 208 NCAA contests, the Beavers next hope to end an even longer losing streak, 245 consecutive defeats in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play going back almost 22 years. They haven't begun league play yet this season.

"We still have to get that other streak," Dow said. "It will be difficult. We lost a lot of players from last year's team."

The California Institute of Technology, which has a student body of some 850, is renowned for its programs in science and math, and for being lovable losers in its athletic programs.

Albert Einstein lectured at Caltech, Linus Pauling was a professor and 31 Nobel Prize winners either have taught or studied on the small campus in suburban Los Angeles. The school has extremely high admission standards and puts arduous academic demands on the students.

So while the school attracts some of the nation's best and brightest, it doesn't necessarily draw the athletically gifted. Like all Division III schools, Caltech doesn't give athletic scholarships, and many of Dow's players didn't so much as play varsity basketball in high school.

Among the handful of fans at the game Saturday night were the school's new president, Jean-Lou Chameau and his wife, Carol Carmichael, who had arrived from Singapore just a couple of hours before tipoff.

"They were the first ones who came across the floor and extended congratulations," Dow said with obvious pride.