PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech Men's Basketball hosted Occidental College Saturday afternoon in the Beavers' last home game of the 2022-23 season.

Before the opening tip, five graduating seniors were honored in the team's traditional Senior Day ceremony, as each student-athlete was introduced individually and accompanied by family and friends on the court. Ben Juarez, Kyle McGraw, Chase Pagon, Jack Pierson and Pavlos Stavrinides were each recognized for their tremendous impact for the Beavers and throughout the SCIAC.

Right out of the gate, McGraw nailed his first two three-point attempts as the two teams kept pace with one another on the scoreboard. Stavrinides and Pagon each tallied points before McGraw hit his third three in four attempts to cut a four-point Oxy lead down to one. First-year Noah Hicks got on the board with a pair of jumpers, and Stavrinides dominated the paint with layup after layup. Stavrinides racked up a double-double in the first half alone, scoring 11 points and collecting 10 rebounds.

Occidental pulled ahead by five points at the 7:45 mark of the opening half just before Caltech staged a 14-0 scoring run lasting just under four minutes of game time, racing ahead of the Tigers by nine. Oxy responded with five points, but the Beavers held a 35-31 lead at halftime.

Pagon claimed Caltech's first eight points of the second half as the teams continued their back-and-forth action, and Stavrinides tied the score at 45 with a pair of good free throws and again at 47 and 49 on consecutive layups. Juarez regained a Caltech lead with a clutch three-pointer and Leo Williams followed with a free throw to put the Beavers up by two just under the 12-minute mark. McGraw added a fourth three-pointer and Noah Hicks tallied more points to finish with 10 along with a team-high four assists. The Caltech bench outscored Oxy 11-2 in the game.

McGraw ended with 14 points, and Stavrinides totaled 17 points and 17 rebounds with three assists. Pagon led both teams in the points column with 18, also collecting seven rebounds and a team-high two steals. Despite the end result, Head Coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger expressed high praise for his squad, noting how the team played with a lot of heart and determination all season long.

The Beavers will wrap up the season on the road at Chapman University on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Watch the game live at SCIACNetwork.com.