Defense, Pinson Come Up Big In Second Half Comeback Win Over Pomona-Pitzer

(Watch Remy Pinson's postgame interview above)

CLAREMONT, Calif. – A 22-2 run in the second half by the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team turned what had been a double-digit first half deficit into a 65-54 win over Pomona-Pitzer in SCIAC play on Wednesday night at Voelkel Gymnasium. CMS is now 17-6 on the season and 13-2 in SCIAC play, while Pomona-Pitzer drops to 13-9, 8-6 in SCIAC. Wednesday night's win sets up a showdown on Saturday night at Ducey Gymnasium as CMS hosts first-place Redlands with the SCIAC regular season championship on the line.

Down for the first 34 minutes of the game, back-to-back three-pointers by junior guard Remy Pinson gave CMS its first lead of the game at 51-47 with 5:19 remaining in the game. Seven-consecutive free-throws by CMS stretched the team's lead to 11 points at 58-47 with 2:26 left on the clock. A breakaway layup by Pomona-Pitzer's Michael Cohen with 1:56 left ended the team's field goal drought after nearly 10 minutes, but by then CMS had a comfortable margin to close out the win.

Cold from the three-point line for much of the game, the Stags hit three of their five three-point attempts during the deciding run, with graduate student Kevin Sullivan hitting the other three during the stretch for the Stags. Pinson had eight of his 13 points during the stretch and also finished the game with 10 rebounds and three assists. The Stags were led by sophomore guard Jack Grodahl who had 17 points and six rebounds.

Pomona-Pitzer started the game with a 12-0 run of its own over the first three minutes and jumped out to a 16-1 lead after a bucket by Adrian Brandon. CMS struggled early against Pomona-Pitzer's zone defense but began to chip away at the lead after the first five minutes of the half. Senior guard Cody Mivshek got CMS on the board to start the game with a free-throw and a runner from the right wing to end Pomona-Pitzer's hot start.

Pomona-Pitzer led 33-27 at the break. The Sagehens maintained as much as a nine point lead as late as the 11:46 mark of the second half at 45-36 after a 6-0 run on three buckets by Kyle McAndrews. The sophomore had a game-high 19 points for the Sagehens.

Box score: http://cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130213_lgwr.xml

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