ORANGE, Calif. – The Caltech men's basketball team wrapped up the 2022-23 season at Hutton Sports Center on the campus of Chapman University, looking to get even with the Panthers in their second matchup of the SCIAC campaign.

Senior center Pavlos Stavrinides highlighted the night with an explosive 25-point, 12-rebound performance, adding a block and a steal to his highest-scoring game since November.

Stavrinides led both teams in the end and at the beginning, his layup after his own offensive rebound opening up the scoring on the Beavers' first possession. Caltech capitalized on a turnover by the Panthers in the form of a Kyle McGraw layup. After the home team rallied to take a four-point lead, Stavrinides replied with a layup then by blocking a Chapman layup attempt, which Chase Pagon scooped up and converted for a fastbreak layup to tie the game at 8-8.

Pavlos kept going, scoring eight of the Beavers' next 11 points, dominating the paint while Jack Pierson hit a three-pointer in the middle of that span. Pagon and McGraw each found the net again with layups, and Stavrinides put an exclamation point on a late Caltech comeback with a slam dunk in the last minute of the half, cutting the Panthers' lead to three after they had led by nine points three times.

To start the second half, Ben Juarez dished to Stavrinides for yet another jam, followed by a McGraw layup to keep Chapman within reach. Unfortunately, the tides turned for the next three and a half minutes as the Beavers' offense got cold right as Chapman's heated up. The Beavers kept their heads in the game, though, battling all the way back from a 24-point deficit to pull within eight points of the Panthers in the last few minutes of regulation. Despite the final score, it was an impressive showing by a tough Caltech senior class against a relentless opponent. 

McGraw finished with 13 points, a couple of rebounds and a steal, and Pagon notched yet another double-double with 12 points and game highs of 15 rebounds, leading both teams on both the offensive (6) and defensive boards (9), five steals and four assists.

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