Photo by: Haruna Tomono, Caltech Yearbook

 

PASADENA, Calif. (Dec. 4, 2021) - On a Saturday afternoon that saw five Beavers score in double figures, the play and accomplishment of senior guard Spencer Schneider (Houston, Texas / Clearbrook) topping the 1000-point mark for his career was the story of the game as men's basketball defeated the Whittier College Poets, 75-63 in the 2021 SCIAC opener.

 

Caltech opens SCIAC play 1-0 while moving above .500 on the season (4-3 overall), including a three-game winning streak. Schneider scored 17 points in the game and grabbed eight rebounds, with both marks leading the Beavers. He was five-of-10 from beyond the arc and also contributed an assist, steal and block to round out the milestone performance.

 

"I could not be happier for Spencer," Head Coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger said. "He is the consummate teammate and team player who is never concerned about his individual accomplishments. From the time he got on campus four years ago, it has always been about how he could help the team win. To see him score 1000 points and almost reach 500 career rebounds [he sits at 497] in the same game is quite remarkable and a testament to his incredible talent and work ethic."

 

While Schneider led the day, the overall effort of the team was strengthened by fantastic play from seniors Noah Barnes (Springfield, Va. / Jefferson) and Marcus Gee (Santa Monica, Calif. / Santa Monica) as well as juniors Kyle McGraw (Los Altos Hills, Calif. / The Nueva School) and Pavlos Stavrinides (Nicosia, Cyprus / The English School of Nicosia). Senior Stephen Hei (Newcastle, Wash. / Liberty) was only a basket short of joining his five teammates in double figures. Barnes had 11 points on the afternoon along with three assists, while Gee knocked in 12 and had four steals as well as seven assists leading to Caltech buckets. Stavrinides had his finest game of the season with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds while demonstrating the ability to control the paint on both ends of the floor. Hei had eight points with two three-pointers and five rebounds.

 

"Pavlos was just fantastic today," Eslinger. said. "We knew that Whittier had an active and talented big man, but Pavlos was by far away the most talented guy in the paint and demonstrated why we are so excited about his ability and his commitment to the team." 

 

One of the most impressive aspects of the afternoon was that Caltech registered 24 assists while scoring 29 field goals.Continuing the theme of sharing the basketball has propelled the Beavers into the top 20 in the national rankings in assists to field-goal percentage.

 

On an afternoon that saw Caltech get out to an early lead over the Poets, Whittier returned the favor surpassing Caltech halfway through the first half and taking a 15-14 lead. Caltech was stuck on 14 points for nearly three minutes, not scoring after the 11:19 mark of the first frame after holding a 14-8 edge until Schneider made a layup with 8:35 left in the first half to get the hosts back within a bucket of Whittier.

 

The visitors continued to hold the Beavers at bay, taking their largest lead of the afternoon at 22-16 with 7:14 remaining in the opening half. Caltech worked hard from that point on to stay in touch with the Poets, finally beginning to write its own version of the story in the last three minutes of the first half, and stretching out a lead at the break to 36-29, when Schneider buried a three-pointer at the buzzer for the second time in three games.

 

Coming out of halftime, Caltech kept its foot on the gas pedal extending the lead to 42-31 with 17:42 to go in the game. After trading buckets, the lead remained in a 10-point spread for much of the second half. When Hei made a three-pointer with 10 minutes to go in the contest, the Beavers' lead increased to 14, at 57-43. After more back-and-forth action, with just under a minute and a half to go in the game, Barnes made a jump shot that extended Caltech's lead to its largest margin of the afternoon at 75-60. Whittier was able to inch a little closer, scoring the final three points of the contest in the Caltech victory 75-63.

 

Eslinger and the Beavers will look to build on their three-game winning streak when they tackle four nonconference opponents to round out the month of December. This string of games begins on Sunday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. in the Braun Athletic Center, when the Beavers host George Fox University from Newberg, Ore. The Beavers' next conference matchup is at home against rival Occidental College on Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022.