Big First-Half Run Carries CMS Men's Basketball to 85-64 Win over Springfield

CHICAGO, Ill. - Junior forward Jeremy Horn had 20 points on 9-12 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team used a 22-4 run in the first half to take control and capture an 85-64 win over Springfield in the consolation game of the University of Chicago Midway Classic on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Stags improve to 1-1 on the year after dropping a defensive battle with host Chicago yesterday 51-43. Springfield falls to 2-2 on the year after dropping its first game of the tournament to Illinois Wesleyan yesterday. 

The first 10 minutes of the game were evenly played, with neither team holding more than a four-point lead. With Springfield ahead 19-18, though, CMS guard TJ Askew knocked down a three-pointer with 9:09 left in the half, which kicked off a 22-4 run that gave the Stags a 17-point lead.

Senior forward Ryan Kusch knocked down a three-pointer to make it 28-20, and after the Pride answered with two foul shots to make it 28-22, CMS rattled off a 9-0 run to push the lead to 15. Sophomore guard Jack Peterson knocked down a three-pointer, which was followed by a Horn lay-up, a jumper from senior guard Mark Sui, and two foul shots from junior forward Maxwell Kirsch to make it a 37-22 lead. 

Freshman forward Sam Johnson hit a jumper with 1:11 in the half to cap off the 22-4 run and give CMS its largest lead of the half at 40-23. Kevin Durkin had a put-back for the Pride with three seconds left in the half, the first field goal for Springfield in over nine minutes, to make it a 40-26 lead at the break. 

CMS quickly squashed any comeback hopes for the Pride by making lay-ups on its first three possessions of the second half. Horn made the first one, and then senior forward Nicolas Segura Dobjanschi and Sui each had steals and fast-break lay-ups to quickly make it a 20-point spread at 46-26. A jumper and a three-pointer back-to-back from junior guard Miles President pushed the lead to 63-34 with 13:23 to go, and two lay-ups from sophomore guard George Walker gave CMS its largest lead at 70-37 with 10:39 left. 

Springfield battled to get the lead back down to 21, but never seriously threatened as it was unable to get the lead back down below 20 until the final minute at 83-64, before freshman guard Carter Ingersoll capped off the scoring with a jumper to make the final 85-64. 

Segura Dobjanschi added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Stags, while President scored all 11 of his points in the second half after being forced to the bench early in the game with two fouls. The Stags shot 54.7 percent as a team for the game (35-64) after shooting just 33 percent yesterday in the loss to Chicago, and committed only seven turnovers as a team. CMS also held a 39-27 edge on the boards and a 44-18 advantage in points in the paint. 

The Stags are back in action this weekend when they return to Claremont for the David Wells Classic, hosting Whitman at Roberts Pavilion on Friday at 7 p.m. before heading across the street to face Willamette at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.