PASADENA, Calif. — The Caltech men's basketball team took on the 2022-23 campaign with grit and determination as they tackled a number of high-level opponents in both nonconference and conference action. It was a notable season for several reasons, which saw both team and individual success throughout the course of the season.

Under the leadership of head coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger, the Beavers earned victories over multiple well-rounded programs, including one against the eventual conference tournament champion and several over other strong opponents in the consistently impressive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC).

The squad picked up its first win of the year at its home opening clash as Caltech downed the Scarlet Hawks of Illinois Tech in a 64-58 victory. A quick 0-8 score to begin the game may have showed cause for concern, but the Beavers quickly cleaned up their mistakes as they scored 14 straight points to go up 19-10. The visitors stuck around for much of the game but could not close the gap as the Beavers scooped the win.

An away matchup versus West Coast Baptist College a few weeks later served as one of the group's most dominant wins of the year. The two teams started the contest trading baskets before Caltech surged ahead to a 39-30 lead at the halftime intermission. The second half was all-Beavers, who outscored the Eagles 41-27 en route to the 80-57 victory. Caltech shot an impressive .500 from the field (31-for-62), and an even more remarkable .500 from three-point territory (9-for-18). Four players — senior guard/forwards Kyle McGraw and Chase Pagon along with sophomore forward Riley Wood and first-year guard Noah Hicks — scored in double figures. Pagon, Wood and senior forward/center Pavlos Stavrinides picked up 10 boards each.

The group soon opened SCIAC play, where the Whittier College Poets came to Braun Gymnasium for another intense battle after the two schools split their 2021-22 matchups.

This game belonged to the home Beavers who beat the Poets 81-59 after Caltech posted one of its best offensive outputs of the year on an incredible .545 shooting (30-for-55) from the field and .455 percentage from distance (10-for-22). Stavrinides led all scorers with 20 points, achieved in just 25 minutes of action; he was a perfect 8-for-8 on the day. Pagon pulled down 16 rebounds to lead all players. The Beavers held the Poets to just .328 shooting and recorded nine more assists (22 to 13).

Caltech would make it back-to-back wins and its third victory in four games as the group topped the Flames of Bethesda University in their Dec. 19 showdown. While it was another slow start for the Beavers after they fell into seven-point hole following the opening tip, the team would quickly storm back, taking a 15-11 lead.

In a true game of runs, the Flames would re-take the advantage and go up by as much as 12 at the 1:07 mark in the first, but the Beavers would outscore their guests 53-40 in the second half, thanks in large part to a massive career-high in points from McGraw (23). The Los Altos Hills native added six boards, four assists and two blocks as the Beavers toughed out the 75-71 victory.

It was a different story as the team traveled east for an away matchup at the University of La Verne. There, the Beavers held the 41-30 advantage at the break before the Leopards began to chip away at the lead, getting to as close as within one bucket. The home team tested the Beavers, but Caltech proved too solid at the charity stripe down the stretch as they secured the 69-66 win.

After organizing the Caltech men's basketball alumni game the morning of Feb. 4, the team took on the Kingsmen of Cal Lutheran University that afternoon. With the crowd packed of Caltech basketball alumni, the Beavers put on quite the show as the two teams went to war.

After reaching a 48-48 tie with 2:30 remaining, Pagon began to take over, connecting on a contested layup and knocking down a key three-pointer on the next possession to put the team on top. Two free throws from Hicks and another pair from Pagon gave the Beavers the 57-54 victory over the eventual SCIAC Tournament champions. The win demonstrated the strong play of its star seniors, with Stavrinides and Pagon both leading the game with 18 points a piece.

Individually, Pagon earned Second Team All-SCIAC honors for his exceptional play in conference action. The Solana Beach native led the league in rebounds per game (10.2) and scored the fourth-most points per game (16.5). He was the only player in the conference to average a double-double for the season.

Stavrinides led the conference in field goal percentage (.626), breaking the school record in single-season field goal percentage in the process. The standout was third among all SCIAC players in rebounds per game (8.2).

The Beavers led the conference in rebounding average (40.3/g).

The program will return a number of key players as they add several new players to be announced later this summer. Check out the program's official 2023-24 schedule release here.

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