Whittier Spoils Career-High 25 From Miles President, Edges CMS 76-73

WHITTIER, Calif. - Junior guard Miles President scored a career-high 25 points for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team, but it wasn't enough as Whittier used a pair of second-half surges to take a 76-73 home win over the Stags on Wednesday evening.

The loss drops CMS to 14-6 overall and 8-3 in the SCIAC, tying it for second place with Occidental, while the Poets improve to 9-13 overall and 6-7 in league play with the win. 

CMS led by as many as 12 points in the first half before settling for a 33-25 lead at the break, as junior guard JD Levine knocked down all four of his three-point shots in the first 20 minutes to pace the Stags with 12 points. However, Whittier started the second half on a 10-0 run to take the lead back at 35-33. 

Junior forward George Walker stopped the run with a lay-up off a feed from sophomore guard Mitchell Kirsch to level the score back up at 35-35, and senior forward Nicolas Segura Dobjanschi put the Stags back in front. 

CMS still led 50-47 with 10 minutes to go after a lay-up from sophomore guard Chukwueloka Oti, before the Poets went on their run. Whittier knocked down five three-pointers in a span of 2:30, including two from Joey Toyama and two from Connor Longmire to take a 62-52 lead, before capping off the 17-2 run with a lay-up from Journey Shank with 6:44 left making it 64-52.

The Stags withstood the barrage and bounced back with a 7-0 run, cutting it to 64-59 with 4:12 left on a President lay-up. President added a three-pointer with 1:19 to go to make it a one-possession game, before Nick Potthoff answered with a three with 52 seconds left. Kirsch had a steal and President had a three-point attempt to tie it with 21 seconds left, but it hit off the rim, and the Poets shot 4-4 at the line in the closing seconds to seal it. 

President shot 8-16 from the floor and 4-10 from three to finish with 25 points, surpassing his previous career high of 20, which he set twice last year, including in the NCAA Tournament against Whitman. Segura Dobjanschi finished with 14 points and nine rebounds and Levine added 13 points. Longmire had 21 points off the Whittier bench, including five three-pointers, as Whittier shot 12-27 from beyond the arc as a team (9-17 in the second half).  

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