Comeback Falls Short As Redlands Tops CMS For SCIAC Tourney Championship

REDLANDS, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team nearly pulled off a second half comeback for the second-straight night in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament. Instead, the University of Redlands held on for a 73-64 win over CMS on Saturday, Feb. 23 at Currier Gymnasium to win the SCIAC Postseason Tournament championship and advance to the NCAA Division III Championships which begin next week. Saturday's matchup was the second time in three seasons that CMS and Redlands have met in the SCIAC Tournament finals at Redlands, with Redlands winning both times.

CMS found itself down by a game-high 16 points with 6:36 left in the game after a three-pointer by Redlands' Tristan Kirk. Just like the night before against Whittier, CMS chipped away at the lead and with 2:27 remaining in the game, CMS trailed by just three points at 63-60 after back-to-back threes from  sophomore guard Jack Grodahl and graduate student forward Kevin Sullivan.

Redlands answered with a three-point play by Josiah Brensdal to make it 66-60 with 1:58 left on the clock. Senior guard Cody Mivshek scored to get CMS back within four at 66-62 which is as close as they would get as Redlands put the game away at the free-throw line going 7-for-8 from the line in the final minute. Brensdal had eight points and seven rebounds for Redlands.

In the first half, the game remained tight. Alex Rudd hit a three for Redlands to open up a five-point lead at 31-26 and then just before halftime Kirk hit a shot with two seconds left to give Redlands a 33-27 lead at the break, the largest lead of the half for either team.

Kirk had a team-high 15 points for Redlands and was one of four players in double figures. Mivshek led CMS with a game-high 20 points while Grodahl had 15, junior Remy Pinson had 11 and Sullivan had nine. Freshman center Shelby Lane had a game-high nine rebounds for CMS.

Redlands defeated CMS in all three games that the two squads faced off this season.

Box score: http://cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130223_aqq6.xml

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