The waiting was the hardest part for the University of La Verne men's basketball team Wednesday night.
After an 82-minute delay, the Leopards made quick work of visiting Caltech by scoring the game's first 22 points en route to a 90-25 triumph over the Beavers at Frantz Athletic Court.
The 210 Freeway logjam from an overturned truck and asphalt spill earlier in the day left the Caltech contingent in transit until its arrival at approximately 8 pm.
Once the game commenced at 8:52 pm, the Leopards (5-8, 1-1 SCIAC) showed no mercy in opening a 22-0 lead before the Beavers earned their first field goal at the 12:45 mark. Leading 26-5, La Verne then embarked on a 20-0 spurt to go up 46-5 on its way to a 50-13 halftime advantage. The Leos shot a sizzling 75% (21-28) from the field in the first half. When the game finally ended at 10:12 pm, La Verne had reached the 90-point barrier for the third time this season.
For the game, the Leopards made 65.5% of their shots while limiting the Beavers to 10 field goals. Sixteen of the 19 La Verne players got in the scoring column, led by Pierre Baker who tallied a game-high 12 points on 6-of-6 shooting. Jonathan Bastos tallied 9 points with Billy Nicolini and Sam Adams each contributing 8 points.
Matthew Dellatorre paced Caltech (1-12, 0-1) with 10 points.
La Verne continues conference action this weekend as it travels to Thousand Oaks to take on California Lutheran on Saturday at 7:30 pm on the back end of a men's-women's doubleheader.
