Movin’ On: CMS advances to NCAA Second Round against ETBU

MARSHALL, Texas – A 24-10 run over the first 10 minutes of the second half by the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team broke the game wide open. CMS went on to a 79-55 win over Texas Lutheran University in the opening round of the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Championship on Friday, March 6 at Ornelas Gym on the campus of East Texas Baptist University.

CMS now faces East Texas Baptist on Saturday, March 7, at East Texas Baptist, with game time set for 4 p.m. CST. ETBU defeated Hendrix 79-59 in the other game in Marshall. Live stats and video information for the CMS/ETBU game will be posted as soon as it becomes available on the CMS men's basketball schedule page here and the East Texas Baptist Host Webpage here.

The win gave CMS its first NCAA postseason win since 1996, a 70-58 win at Upper Iowa. CMS is now 22-6 on the season. Head coach Ken Scalmanini now has 300 wins for his career with all 300 coming in Claremont. Scalmanini has a 300-134 record during his 17 seasons leading the Stags.

At halftime of Friday's game against Texas Lutheran, CMS led 30-24 behind just 36 percent shooting from the field and 28 percent shooting from the three-point line. That included an uncharacteristically cold shooting first half from CMS' leading scorer, guard Tyler Gaffaney (CGU), who went 1-for-8 from the field during the opening 20 minutes and scored just three points.

That all changed in the second half. CMS opened the second half on a 7-0 run over the first 2:30 to take a 37-24 lead, with five of the points during the run coming from Gaffaney. TLU ended the scoring drought with a free throw by Sterling Holmes at the 17:14 mark. CMS' defense allowed just one TLU starter to score in double figures, Holmes, who had 10 points.

Junior forward Jason Harrington (CMC) played a key role for the Stags offensively in the second half, as he hit three-straight three-pointers early on.

CMS would lead by double figures the rest of the game as they built as much as a 29-point advantage with six minutes remaining in the game.

Gaffaney led CMS with 23 points, 20 of which came in the second half. Harrington scored 14 points, while freshman forward Jack Ely (CMC) scored nine points off the bench with seven points coming on free throws. CMS outrebounded TLU 44-26 and did a better job sharing the basketball with 16 assists to TLU's four. CMS also capitalized on TLU's turnovers, scoring 12 points.

Zach Behr led TLU with 15 points off the bench.

Box score

Postgame Interview by ETBU (Tyler Gaffaney, Coach Scalmanini and Jack Grodahl)
Photos
Bracket (PDF)
Bracket (Interactive)

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