Lynds Drops Career-High, Stags Roll Past Fighting Falcons

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team picked up their first victory of the 2017-18 season with an 84-65 victory over California Miramar on Saturday night in Roberts Pavilion. The Stags were paced by a career-high 24 points from senior Scott Lynds (CMC). In the game, Lynds went 9-11 from the field including an impressive 5-7 mark from downtown.

As a team, the Stags shot 50.0% from the field (31-62) and saw all 21 players on the roster log minutes in the contest.

It was a relatively slow start to the contest for both teams. After five minutes of play, the score stood even at 6-6. Tommy Le'Gardye connected on a jumper for California Miramar before Michael Scarlett (CMC) hit a three to give CMS the lead at 9-8.

Maxwell Kirsch (CMC) then came off the bench and hit back to back threes in the first minute he was on the floor. Kirsch's threes combined with the triple that Scarlett nailed just a moment earlier made up a quick 9-0 run for the Stags. A layup for the Fighting Falcons briefly paused the CMS momentum, but Kendrick Morris (CMC) hit a jump shot and JD Levine (CMC) picked a pocket at midcourt before coasting in for a lay-up to give the Stags a 19-10 lead.

All of this was part of a larger, 25-6 run for CMS that spanned 9:34 in the middle of the half. Fittingly enough, a three from Scarlett was the final bucket of the lengthy run for the Stags. Following that bucket, CMS held a 31-14 lead with under five minutes remaining in the half.

Over the final four-plus minutes in the half, the Fighting Falcons trimmed the CMS lead down to 11 at 35-24.

Scott Lynds scored four points and assisted on three other buckets in a fine first-half for the senior. The second-half was another story for Lynds. During a 3:38 span in opening minutes of the second-half, Lynds scored 13 points on five shots, including a trio of three-pointers.

In a remarkable half, Lynds scored 20 points on a 7-8 shooting effort including a 5-6 mark from beyond the three-point arc. He also grabbed a pair of rebounds and dished out an assist in just nine minutes on the floor in the half.

Lynds' second-half effort combined with strong minutes from the entire bench helped push the Stags to a comfortable 84-65 victory.

In the game, CMS' offense featured 14 different scorers.

The Stags will next take the court on Wednesday, when they travel to Redlands to open up SCIAC play with a tilt against the Bulldogs beginning at 7:00 p.m.