Second Half Struggles For CMS Give Redlands Win And SCIAC Regular Season Title

CLAREMONT, Calif. – Much like in the first meeting of the season, a five-minute stretch in the second half cost the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team the game against the University of Redlands. On Saturday night, the five-minute lapse not only cost CMS the game, it also cost the team a chance to win the SCIAC Co-Championship as Redlands pulled away for a 76-64 win at Ducey Gymnasium in the SCIAC regular season finale for both teams.

With the loss, CMS dropped to 17-7 and 13-3 in SCIAC while Redlands improved to 20-5, 15-1 in SCIAC play. The win also gives Redlands the No. 1 seed in the SCIAC Tournament while CMS has earned the No. 2 seed and will host a game on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7:30 p.m. against the winner of Tuesday's game between Whittier and Pomona-Pitzer.

In the second half, CMS held a 49-44 lead after freshman guard Jack Earley hit a bucket with 9:56 remaining. Just as the first game in January, Redlands then got going on offense. In January an 11-3 run gave Redlands the advantage and on Saturday night it was a 16-3 run that turned a five point deficit into an eight-point lead at 60-52 with 5:38 in the game.

During the run, Redlands hit four-three pointers, two of which came from guard Ricky Peetz. He finished with 13 points on the night and was one of four Redlands' players in double-figures. Forward Josiah Brensdal had a team-high 16 points for Redlands.

Senior guard Cody Mivshek ended the run with a bucket to narrow the Redlands lead to 60-54 with 4:14 remaining which is as close as CMS would get the rest of the night.

CMS trailed for much of the first half as well but an 11-2 run to close out the half gave CMS the lead 31-29 at the break. Mivshek, junior guard Remy Pinson and freshman forward Jason Harrington each had three-pointers during the run. Pinson had a game-high 17 points for CMS to go along with three assists while Mivshek added 16 points. CMS was held to 36 percent shooting on the night.

Box score: http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2012-13/boxscores/20130216_yrxo.xml

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