LA VERNE, Calif. — The Caltech men's basketball team hit the road on Wednesday as the Beavers faced off against the University of La Verne Leopards in an evening SCIAC showdown.

The hosts notched the first points of the matchup, though the visting Beavers soon responded as first-year wing-forward Ryan Hu (Bellevue, Wash. / Newport) found sophomore guard Noah Hicks (Oxford, Ga. / George Walton Academy), who drained a deep shot from beyond the arc to put Caltech within two points at 5-3.

A few possessions later, first-year forward Matt Cantor (Bayside, N.Y. / Townsend Harris) fired a pass to Hicks, who finished on a strong layup through contact to electrify the Caltech bench and put himself at the line. The sophomore calmly drained the free throw to complete the 3-point play.

Moments later, Hu got involved in the scoring as he splashed a good shot from the midrange.

La Verne pulled ahead as the contest went on, though Caltech continued to fight. Early in the second half, the Beavers connected on back-to-back-to-back possessions thanks to buckets from first-year guard-wing Andrew Koclanes (Denver / Colorado Academy), first-year guard-wing Christos Palkogiannis (Thessaloniki, Greece / Landon School) and then another bucket from Koclanes, with Palkogiannis doing the distributing.

The squad produced a number of impressive posessions as the game continued, though it was not enough to overcome the Leopards as time expired.

Hicks led all players from both teams in scoring with 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting; the guard posted a 2-for-5 performance from long range and shot 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. Hu scored the second-most points in the contest (16) after shooting 6-for-13 from the field and draining all four of his free throws. The freshman also earned a career-high four assists in his 27 minutes of action to lead all players.

Junior forward Riley Wood (Richmond, Va. / St. Christopher's School) brought down 11 rebounds to lead the contest. It is Wood's fifth double-digit rebounding game this season.

Junior wing-forward Evan Portnoi (Short Hills, N.J. / Northfield Mount Hermon) led all players in 3-pointers made; he finished the night 3-for-5 from distance.

First-year guard Andy Li (Austin, Tex. / St. Stephen's Episcopal) connected on both of his free throws to help the Beavers to a perfect 11-for-11 performance from the line. The Beavers' 1.00 percentage trumped the .615 from the Leopards.

This is the fifth straight game in which Caltech notched 10 or more assists and the third straight game of a collective five or more steals.

Hu and Portnoi each came up with a block; the team wrapped up the night with no blocked shots against them.

Head coach Dr. Oliver Eslinger and the group will now focus on the Stags of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, who come to town this Saturday, Jan. 27. Action tips off at 2 p.m following the annual Alumni Game competition held at 11 a.m. Cheer on the Beavers in person and follow the action online at gocaltech.com/coverage.

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