PASADENA, Calif. (Jan. 14, 2023) – The Caltech men's basketball team wrapped up Saturday's 2023 Winter Orange Out event against 18th-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

The game arrived after much anticipation, not only because of the delayed start due to Caltech Women's Basketball taking the CMS women's team to overtime, but also because Caltech won their previous home game against the Stags last year for their first victory over CMS since the 1970s. The bleachers were packed, the fans were loud and the Beavers came ready to compete. 

"I'm very proud of how our guys played tonight," Head Coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger said. "They moved the ball well, they defended well, they executed, and they were taking good shots."

The Stags pulled ahead early in the first quarter, but the Beavers tied the game at 6-6 as Chase Pagon and Pavlos Stavrinides drove in for a trio of layups. Pagon later assisted both of Ben Juarez's back-to-back three-pointers to cut the CMS lead down to just two points. After some back-and-forth between the two teams, the Beavers would only trail by four points at halftime.

Even though CMS pulled away with the lead in the second half, Caltech held the advantages in bench points, second chance points (after offensive rebounds) and fast break points. 

Pagon led the Beavers in scoring with 15 points as well as a team-high five assists. Stavrinides scored 10 points, dished out three assists and picked up a steal while not committig any turnovers in the contest. Noah Hicks collected a game-high eight rebounds, and Riley Wood followed closely with six boards. Kyle McGraw swiped a team-high three steals.

The Beavers will face Occidental College in their next away game on Monday, Jan. 17. Watch live on the SCIAC Network.