Miles President Named SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week for CMS Men's Basketball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior guard Miles President earned the SCIAC Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Week Award for games through Sunday, Feb. 17, the league office announced today.

President earned the honor after helping the Stags to a 3-0 week, which clinched home court advantage in the SCIAC semfinals on Friday. The Stags, who rank second in the nation in scoring defense at 60.8 points per game, held two of their opponents on the week under 50 points, defeating La Verne 73-49 on Monday and Cal Lutheran 84-48 on Saturday. 

Sandwiched between the two blowout wins was a hard-fought 65-57 win over a potent Occidental team on Wednesday night, which served as a de facto battle for the right to host the semifinal rematch this coming Friday. In that contest, President helped CMS hold the Tigers to only 19 second-half points, taking the primary defensive assignment in the second half on Occidental's Caleb Yellin-Flaherty, who erupted for 19 points in the first half. President helped to hold Yellin-Flaherty to only one point in the second half, including no field goal attempts until he forced up a three-pointer in transition in the final two minutes. 

For the week, President picked up four blocked shots from his guard position, including two in the Occidental win (as well as two against La Verne). His efforts helped CMS lower its team defense by an average of two points per game, yielding only 51.3 points over the three contests, 10 under the team's average. 

CMS will be back in action tomorrow night for its regular season finale at home against Chapman at 7 p.m. The Stags will then host one of two SCIAC semifinals on Friday night against Occidental at 7 p.m., with the winner moving on to Saturday's championship.