Harrington, Gaffaney help lead CMS to rivalry rematch win

(Watch Harrington's Postgame Interview)

CLAREMONT, Calif. – A 27-7 run to open the second half turned a six-point game at halftime into a 67-49 win for the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team over rival Pomona-Pitzer on Feb. 17 at the Rains Center in SCIAC play. The win on Tuesday by CMS combined with a Chapman loss, moved CMS into second place in the conference with two games left to play in the regular season. CMS is now 17-6 on the year, 10-4 in conference, while Pomona-Pitzer dropped to 9-14, 7-7 in SCIAC.

The win for CMS also avenged its last-second, 58-57 loss to Pomona-Pitzer back on Jan. 24.

At halftime, CMS led 36-30 with 10 points coming from Tyler Gaffaney (CGU) and nine each from juniors Jack Earley (CMC) and Jason Harrington. Gaffaney finished his night with a game-high 22 points while Harrington finished second for CMS with 14 points.

Kyle McAndrews scored the first bucket of the second half to move Pomona-Pitzer within four points at 36-32. Gaffaney came right back with a basket for CMS and Harrington followed with a basket of his own on CMS' next possession. For the next several minutes, the CMS offense and defense took control. Over the next 10 minutes of the second half, Pomona-Pitzer scored just five points and the CMS lead ballooned to 23 points at 63-37 at the 8:08 mark.

McAndrews then hit a three-pointer for Pomona-Pitzer with 7:24 left which ended a drought of over nine minutes without a field goal. CMS led by as many as 27 points in the second half after a basket by Gaffaney.

The CMS defense held Pomona-Pitzer to 38 percent shooting on the night including 21 percent from the three-point line. CMS committed just three turnovers in the game

Junior center Shelby Lane (CMC) had a game-high 10 rebounds for CMS. Michael Cohen led Pomona-Pitzer with 16 points while Adrian Brandon added 12 points.

CMS next faces Cal Lutheran at home on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. for Senior Night, a game that will go a long way in determining SCIAC Postseason Tournament seeding and have a big impact on which team ends up winning the SCIAC regular season title.

Box score

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