Stags Beat Tigers, Advance To SCIAC Finals

CMS beat Occidental 66-62 on Friday evening to advance to the final of the inaugural SCIAC Tournament. They will play at Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday evening at 7:30.  Pomona-Pitzer, the #3 seed in the tournament, won at #2 Cal Lutheran 54-44 and will host the final as the highest remaining seed.  The winner of the tournament will receive the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Playoffs.

CMS, the #4 seed, led #1 Occidental by as many as 13 points in the second half.  The Tigers made a strong run to close within two, but were never able to retake the lead.  Chris Blees (FR, Carmichael) hit Craig Borengasser (SR, Tempe, AZ) for a layup in the last minute for the final margin and CMS held Occidental scoreless on their last two possessions.

Conner Faught (SO, Agoura Hills) led the Stags with 17 points and had four assists.  Borengasser had 15 points and seven rebounds.  Blees added 13 points and five assists.  Austin Soldner (JR, Southlake, TX) had 11 points and nine rebounds.  CMS shot 56.5% for the game and held Occidental to 42.9% shooting including only 31.0% in the second half.

Connor Whitman led Occidental with 16 points. 

The boxscore of the game can be found here.

The final will be audiocast by Matthew Meyer (CMC '10), who will also be on the air earlier in the day broadcasting the CMS baseball doubleheader vs. Cal Lutheran.

The link to the broadcast can be found here: Audiocast