CMC75 Moments: 2002 Men's Basketball Wins 13 Straight for SCIAC Title
As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moments, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
2001-02 Men's Basketball: Stags Go 13-1 To Win SCIAC
The 2001-02 men's basketball season began under difficult circumstances with the passing of former Head Coach David Wells in July. Wells had played from 1968-72 and coached from 1974-1999, before turning the program over to his assistant, Ken Scalmanini, when his health began to fail. The seniors on the team were coached by Wells as freshmen, and while the magnitude of the adversity wasn't equivalent, they had also been through three straight runner-up finishes in SCIAC and hoped to graduate with their first league title.
The SCIAC season began with perhaps the ominous feeling of another potential runner-up finish looming, as the Stags fell by just one point to defending champion Cal Lutheran 59-58 in their league opener, when their last hope, Bob Donlan's last-second desperation shot, hit the roof of the Cal Lutheran gymnasium. However, CMS responded to that temporary setback, and did not lose another SCIAC game the rest of the way, closing out on a 13-game win streak to edge Cal Lutheran by one game for the program's first title since 1996, and the first under Scalmanini.
The Stags had to pull some close games out down the stretch for the outright, first beating Cal Lutheran 64-60 in the all-important rematch. CMS then edged Pomona-Pitzer 51-49 and Occidental 49-47 in back-to-back games to set up a chance to clinch the outright title against Whittier. The Stags won the first meeting with Poets by just one point (64-63), but with the league title on the line, they dominated for an 84-52 win. Moments after the finish, the news got even better - Cal Lutheran lost across the street at Pomona-Pitzer by just one point (62-61) and the league title belonged to CMS alone, as well as the NCAA bid.
Donlan was an Honorable Mention All-American and an All-District first team selection, while B.J. Jameson was named to the All-SCIAC first team and David Cann was chosen to the second team, all of whom were seniors who were coached by Wells as freshmen. Donlan also earned the SCIAC's top player award, which was renamed the David Wells Memorial Player of the Year for the first time.
Doug Stockalper:
My favorite part of the championship photo is Mike Brandt almost breaking a smile after winning the SCIAC title. Really brings back some special memories...like telling the wait staff at every restaurant team meal that it was Isaac's birthday, so that he would have to blow out a candle on a cute little cupcake.
Bob Donlan:
This was the first time in SCIAC history that a men's basketball team won 13 games; 12-2 was always what it took to win the title, so 13-1 was unheard of. If Cal Lutheran's ceiling had been higher then it would have been 14-0, as I assure you my last second "prayer" was going in.
I think there was an immense amount of pressure that BJ, Dave and I (and Scali) felt to win the championship. The fact we'd finished second for three years in a row was brutal. Our hearts were set on getting the title in our last year. While I don't recall ever specifically talking about winning for Coach Wells, I do know that doing so was absolutely in our minds. I certainly know that Scali felt as much. We were the last recruiting class, the last group that he coached (on the men's side), and to end our careers with a championship was magical.
We had some memorable comebacks and hard-fought wins along the way. BJ and I connected on an inbound play at Whittier where he got fouled and made two FT's to win it. Michael Brandt had a last second shot to beat Oxy if I recall correctly. The Whittier finale was an incredible evening to cap it off...we get the blowout win and start to celebrate as we're co-champs at a minimum. Several of our friends ran down the street to catch the end of Pomona vs. Cal Lu and cheer for Pomona, who gets the upset win to give us the outright title. Our friends come running back to share the good news and celebration #2 begins. Pretty epic.
That was a special team with so many fun memories. Hard to believe it has been almost 20 years!
Also hard to believe we got Ike with the birthday candle every place we went, even when he started following me around convinced that it was me (lol).
BJ Jameson:
It was a special season. The culmination of four long years for us seniors being right on the cusp of winning the SCIAC each season but always coming up short. We had finished in second place each of my first three seasons, and we knew that this was our last shot at getting over the hump and claiming that title. I vividly remember losing at La Verne in the final game of the regular season my freshman year (1999) which dropped us into second place missing out on that elusive championship. I remember just sitting in the van after the game, completely devastated. Bobby put his arm around me and said "remember this feeling, remember this pain, we don't want to feel this again." And yet we did have to endure more of the same our sophomore and junior years with runner up finishes. Senior year was going to be different, it had to be. We owed it to the upperclassmen we had played with that missed out on that achievement and we owed it to coach Wells and Scali to succeed where we had failed before.
The pressure going into league play was palpable. We had to open up at Cal Lu, which was always a tough place to get a W. They were one of the favorites heading into the season and I believe they had just come off a first place the year prior. The game came down to the wire and a late turnover sealed our fate as we lost by one point. Another heartbreaking defeat and this time it came in the conference opener. Were we going to come up short yet again? Those same feelings of doubt crept in. We had some long conversations after that game about what we wanted to accomplish and what we needed to do to make that happen. Fortunately we managed to use that loss to catapult us to a magical run through the rest of league play cranking out 13 straight wins. I remember a close one at Whittier that we just barely edged out. And a super clutch tip in from Brandt at Oxy to get that win in a very hostile road environment. Of course I will never forget the game winner from Brandt at the buzzer at Pomona (my first and only win at Pomona). That one was sweet. And then there was a gutsy win at home against Cal Lu that also comes to mind. Cal Lu had run the table the first half of league play so they came into our gym at 7-0 and we were sittIng at 6-1 (our only loss had come to them in game 1). It was a back and forth game and we made some plays late with the support of the CMC fans we got the win.
I remember the last game of the season we won putting us at 13-1 in conf play. Cal Lu was 12-1 and playing their final league game just down the street at Pomona. If they won we would be tied for first place. Our student section ran over to catch the end of that game while we waited to find out what the outcome would be. I'll never forget hearing chants echoing into Ducey as they marched back into the gym, led by the incomparable John Fischer. It had to be the only time we had ever cheered for Pomona to get a win and they had beaten Cal Lu. The SCIAC title was ours alone. Finally, after all the runner-up finishes. So many hugs and smiles and good memories that night from cutting down the nets to celebrating out at the senior apartments. It truly was a remarkable season and an even more remarkable group of teammates to get to share it with.
Can't believe it will be 20 years ago next year. Time sure does fly by.
2001-02 Men's Basketball Roster
Head Coach: Ken Scalmanini
Assistant Coaches: Bruce Victor, Connor Henry
Shevy Akason (So., G, CMC)
Dan Artiano (Fr., G, CMC)
Justin Blackwood (Fr., G, CMC)
Michael Brandt (So., F, CMC)
Forrest Caldwell (So., F, CMC)
David Cann (Sr., F, CMC)
Eddie Courtemarche (Fr., G, CMC)
Bob Donlan (Sr., G, CMC)
Christian Dundas (So., F, CMC)
J.P. Elliott (Fr., F, CMC)
B.J. Jameson (Sr., G, CMC)
Matt Keller (So., F, HMC)
Josh Keough (So., G, CMC)
Hans Meyer (Jr., C, HMC)
Isaac Newman-Gomez (Sr., C, CMC)
Brian Rakusin (Fr., C, CMC)
Doug Stockalper (Jr., G, CMC)