PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Men's Basketball hosted the Whittier College Poets in their first game of conference play, and came away with a solid 81-69 win aided by a trio of double-digit scorers.

The Beavers claimed the first seven points of the contest, with Pavlos Stavrinides drawing a foul on his first possession and hitting a free throw, and back-to-back three-pointers by Chase Pagon and Kyle McGraw followed. Whittier fought back and the two teams traded leads and ties a few times as the first half progressed. Ultimately the Poets would see their last lead of the game cut to a one-point margin as Noah Hicks nailed his first bucket of the game, a poised three-pointer assisted by playmaker Riley Wood at the 4:05 mark. From there, Caltech outscored the guests 16-5 until halftime, taking a 35-27 lead into the locker room.

"I really loved how we came out in the first half," Head Coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger said. "Our mental approach was great going into our first conference game. You never know how it's going to be coming off finals week – we had a week and a half to prepare for the game – but I thought the approach we took was really good in terms of how we prepared for them, and how they were able to execute for most of the game."

Of course, the Beavers' defense aided the winning effort by holding the Poets scoreless for long spans throughout the game. Most notably, after Whittier pulled within five points at the beginning of the second frame, Caltech surged on offense while defending effectively in their backcourt, racking up an 18-point lead on a 13-0 scoring run lasting for more than six minutes, making the score 50-34. The opponents didn't make it to 40 points until the 7:56 mark, at which point Caltech led by a 60-40 margin. While Whittier found success employing a full-court press and fought back to within 11 points, it wouldn't be enough as Caltech regrouped and found their flow again.

By the time the final buzzer sounded and the Braun Gym crowd rose to their feet, Caltech had outscored Whittier in the second half by a 46-42 tally, with 60.7% field goal accuracy and an explosive 16 points by Hicks. He finished with 19 points, three assists, three boards and a steal.

Stavrinides led both teams in the points column with 20, adding a few rebounds, a couple assists and a blocked shot. Pagon racked up his sixth double-double of the season and his third in as many games, scoring 19 points and collecting 16 rebounds while serving up a season-high seven assists and a team-high three steals. 

As a team, Caltech boasted 54.5% field goal shooting with 45.5% accuracy behind the three point arc, and dominated the paint by a 36-16 margin. On the Beavers' 22 assists accompanying their 30 field goals, Eslinger said proudly, "That's Caltech basketball. It was a great team win; seven people scored, seven people had assists, and even the guys who weren't scoring were defending well within our system."

The Beavers are back in action on Monday, Dec. 19 at 4 p.m. in a rematch against Bethesda University. Watch the game live at https://sciacnetwork.com/caltech