CMS Men's Basketball Rallies But Comes Up Short at No. 16 Pomona-Pitzer

CLAREMONT, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team cut a 16-point lead down to four in the second half, but No. 16 Pomona-Pitzer fought off the challenge to take a 73-57 win on Wednesday evening at Voelkel Gymnasium.

CMS sees its seven-game win streak snapped as it falls to 13-5 overall and 7-2 in the SCIAC, with both losses coming to Pomona-Pitzer. The Sagehens, meanwhile, improve to 17-1 overall and 9-0 in the SCIAC with the win. 

Senior forward Nicolas Segura Dobjanschi led CMS with 14 points and eight rebounds, while junior guard Miles President had 10 points. Junior forward George Walker had a strong effort off the bench with nine points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes. Micah Elan led all scorers for Pomona-Pitzer with 17 points, including 3-5 shooting from three-point territory, where the Sagehens shot 60 percent as a team (9-15). 

Pomona-Pitzer used a 10-0 run to take a 28-16 lead in the first half, built it up to as many as 16 points (38-22), before settling for a 41-27 lead at the break. 

CMS regrouped at the half and came out flying with a 10-2 run to get within 43-37. After a lay-up from junior forward Jeremy Horn made the score 43-31, senior guard Mark Sui and President hit back-to-back three-pointers to force a Pomona-Pitzer timeout. Elan answered with a three-pointer, but Segura Dobjanschi had a driving lay-up, and Walker followed with a three-point play to get CMS all the way back to within four at 46-42 with 13:12 still to play. 

MBB: Mark Sui hits a big three and the Stags have cut the deficit to 43-37 with 15:03 left in the second half #GoStags #GoCMS pic.twitter.com/aBKJlBZSdk

— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) January 24, 2019

Adam Rees hit a three-pointer to stem the tide for the Sagehens, and a pair of James Kelbert lay-ups helped push the lead up to 10 points at 54-44 with 11:02 left. Segura Dobjanschi hit a short jumper to make it 54-47, but Kelbert converted a lay-up while being fouled for a three-point play, and CMS wasn't able to get closer than eight the rest of the way, as the Sagehens extended the final margin up to 16 points. 

MBB: The Stags have battled back to cut the deficit to 54-47 with 10:00 left. George Walker with the physical bucket despite the foul #GoStags #GoCMS pic.twitter.com/ojtDxjspfJ

— CMS Athletics (@AthleticsCMS) January 24, 2019

Sui, who had a career-high 18 points in the first meeting with Pomona-Pitzer, hit both his three-pointers and had seven points, but was restricted to only 13 minutes after picking up two fouls in the game's first minute. Walker (pictured) had four of his eight rebounds on the offensive end, while falling one point shy of reaching double digits for the second time in his career. Kelbert had 11 points on 5-5 shooting for Pomona-Pitzer off the bench, while Corbin Koch added 10. 

CMS will be back in action on Saturday when it hosts Redlands for a 7 p.m. contest at Roberts Pavilion.