Strong Defense, Askew's Clutch Basket Give CMS Men's Basketball Road Win over Cal Maritime

VALLEJO, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team used a three-point play from sophomore TJ Askew in the final minute to take the lead, and held on for a narrow 56-53 win over Cal Maritime on Saturday evening.

The win improves CMS to 5-2 on the season after back-to-back wins on its Bay Area road trip, following a win over Division III rival UC Santa Cruz yesterday. Cal Maritime suffers only its second loss as it falls to 9-2 on the season with the defeat. CMS held Cal Maritime to just 30.5 percent shooting from the floor and 11.5 percent from three-point territory (3-26), including two misses on tying attempts in the closing seconds. 

Sophomore TJ Askew came up with the clutch play of the game, converting an old-fashioned three-point play with 57 seconds left and the Stags trailing 52-51 following a 7-0 Keelhauler run. Cal Maritime split one of two at the line to close to 54-53, and junior guard Mitchell Kirsch knocked down two foul shots with nine seconds left to make it a 56-53 game. Cal Maritime had two three-point attempts to tie it in the final seconds, but both missed as CMS was able to come away with the hard-fought win.  

Askew's basket ended a field goal drought of almost eight minutes for CMS, which took a 48-40 lead with 8:49 left on a basket from senior forward Jeremy Horn. Cal Maritime went on a 12-3 run until the final minute to take the lead, with CMS only able to manage three foul shots over the span of 7:52.

The Stags held a 28-23 lead at the break and took their largest lead of the night at 39-29 with 13:43 to go after a three-pointer from senior guard JD Levine. After Cal Maritime had an 8-0 run to cut it to two points, senior forward Kele Mkapdo had a three-point play, Askew made two foul shots and Horn had a basket for a 7-0 run to get the lead back up to 46-37. 

Josh Hauser, though, capped off a Cal Maritime run with a jumper with 1:23 to go to put the Keelhaulers in front 52-51, their first lead since it was 9-8 early on, but Askew was able to step up in a key spot to help the Stags to the win. 

Senior forward Maxwell Kirsch led CMS with 12 points, including 3-6 from beyond the arc, while Horn had 11 points and eight rebounds. First-year forward Rhett Carter also came up big off the bench with eight points, while Askew added seven. 

CMS will have two weeks off for final exams before returning to action for a home contest against the University of Chicago on Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m.