Max Kirsch, Miles President Lead CMS Men's Basketball past Cal Lutheran 75-53

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Maxwell Kirsch recorded a season-high 12 points and Miles President scored in double-digits for the ninth time this season with 12 points, as the CMS Men's Basketball team coasted to a 22-point victory over Cal Lutheran at Roberts Pavilion and clinched its fifth consecutive win.

The Stags improve to 11-4 overall and 5-1 in SCIAC play with the fifth consecutive win and recorded their largest margin (22 points) of victory during the streak that has moved them into the second spot in the conference behind Pomona-Pitzer (7-0) who defeated Occidental 70-65 on Monday night. Cal Lutheran had its record drop to 3-11 and 1-5 in SCIAC play with its fourth straight loss by the second-largest margin of the three other losses at the hands of Occidental (84-64), Redlands (77-65), and Pomona-Pitzer (76-51). 

CMS found itself behind 7-4 at the 14:59 mark but a timeout called by the Stags would gather the troops together for a comeback. Out of the timeout, Max Kirsch made a jump shot and the Stags went on an 10-0 run to move in front 14-7. The Stags held the Kingsman to two points over the next 3:28 extending their lead to 20-9 before Austin Cole made two freethrows to end the run and leave the margin a nine-point advantage for CMS, 20-11 at the 9:15 mark of the first half. 

The Stags scored the next four points, on a pair of freethrows from Mark Sui and Miles President to stretch the lead to 13, 24-11. Cal Lutheran was held at 11 points for five minutes and 13 seconds as the Stags ran out to a 30-11 advantage, which included two freethrows by Max Kirsch; a layup by Jeremy Horn; and a layup by Sam Johnson giving CMS a 19-point advantage with 4:02 left to play in the first frame.

Palmer Chaplin finally ended the Stags' 6-0 run with a three-pointer at 3:35 but the lead was squarely on the Stags side of 30-14 and despite a fairly evenly played final few minutes of the opening half (8-7 CMS), the Stags went into the halftime break with a 17-point lead 38-21. 

Max Kirsch led all Stags with nine first-half points off the bench on 3-4 from the field including 1-2 from three-point distance and 2-2 from the freethrow line and finished tied for the team-lead with 12 points on 4-6 from the field overall. President was second at the halfway point with eight points and Jeremy Horn finished with six points on 2-6 shooting, including 2-for-2 from the freethrow line.

Overall, the Stags shot 46.2% (12-26) from the field in the first stanza, including 3-10 (30.0%) from the three-point line, and 11-14 (78.6%) from the freethrow stripe. Cal Lutheran scored the first five points of the second half before the Stags called another timeout. 

Much like after the timeout in the first half, the Stags responded. President scored two of his 12 points (4-8) out of the timeout and Horn drilled a two-pointer, he finished with 10 points (4-10) with five rebounds, and the Stags used a 37-32 edge to pull away from the Kingsman 75-53. Mitchell Kirsch finished with nine points on 3-for-4 from the field, including 1-for-2 from three-point land and 2-4 from the freethrow line. Nicolas Segura Dobjanschi completed his night with six points but three first-half fouls limited him to 11 minutes on the evening.

Cal Lutheran had three scorers in double-digits, Austin Cole led the way with 14 points (4-12), Palmer Chaplin scored 13 points (4-6), and Kyle Ferreira was held below his 18.8 points per game average with 12 points (2-9). The Stags shot 57.4% (27-47) from the field for the game and held the Kingsman to 35.0% (14-40) from the field. Limiting Cal Lutheran to just 14 made baskets in an all out defensive effort, including three of those from three-point range (3-15, 20.0%). Each team shot 26 freethrows with the Stags shooting 16-26 from the line and Cal Lutheran finishing 22-26. 

The Stags will be back in action and looking for their sixth consecutive SCIAC win on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Whittier (3-3, 6-9) at Roberts Pavilion. The Poets are coming off of a 83-82 win over Caltech on Saturday led by Noah Barnes and Cody Gee who netted 23 points apiece. CMS has moved into second place in the conference and following the game against Whittier, it will head on the road to face Chapman on Jan. 19 and the second matchup with Sixth Street Rival Pomona-Pitzer on Jan. 23.