CMS Men's Basketball Wins Sixth Straight with 67-51 Victory at Cal Lutheran

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team was led by Jeremy Horn's 17 points and seven rebounds as it stretched its lead to 12 at the half and fended off a second-half surge from Cal Lutheran to earn its sixth consecutive win 67-51 on Wednesday night in Thousand Oaks.

That Stags improve to 15-3 overall and 7-2 in the SCIAC with the victory and Cal Lutheran falls to 3-15 overall and 1-8 in the conference with the loss. Horn made 8-11 from the field and grabbed five offensive rebounds and two defensive rebounds. His effort with double-digit points was the third Stag to score in double-figures for the night, including 13 points on 5-8 shooting off the bench from Kele Mkpado and 11 on 4-8 from the field for Josh Angle to post three double-digit efforts for the Stags. CMS shot 46.3% (25-54) from the field including 34.8 percent (8-23) from three-point range, and 56.3 percent (9-16) from the free-throw line. 

CMS and Cal Lutheran were playing evenly with 5:20 left to go in the first half, after two free-throws by George Walker, who finished with eight points on 2-3 from the field off the bench, pushed the advantage to just two points, 22-20. A three from Mkpado stretched the run to 8-0 over the next minute and 25 seconds putting CMS up by eight, 28-20. A layup by Connor Cole for Cal Lutheran broke the run and cut the CMS advantage to six. 

Angle drained a three-pointer and stretched it to the largest lead for the Stags up to that point, 31-22 with 2:35 left to go in the first 20 minutes of play. It was a much-needed turnaround for the Stags after finding themselves down by two points at the halfway mark of the first half. Sam Johnson hit a jumper and pushed the lead to 11 points, 33-22 with 1:48 left in the opening stanza. 

Following two made free-throws by Cole, Angle hit his second consecutive three just over a minute later to push the lead to 12, 36-24 with 1:23 remaining. Both teams went scoreless through the remainder of the first half after a pair of missed shots including a three-point attempt with three seconds left by Brooks Mallory.

CMS led 36-24 at the halftime buzzer. Angle led the way offensively for the Stags in the first half with nine points on 3-5 from the field including 2-3 from beyond the arc. Horn had just six points on 3-4 shooting along with three rebounds and Walker had six points and three boards off the bench at the break. 

Horn got the Stags going in the second half with a layup to push the advantage to 14, 38-24. Following a missed three-pointer by Logan McCullough for CLU, Mitchell Kirsch made a layup to push the lead to 16, 40-24 just shy of two minutes into the second half at 18:18. 

Following a made three-ball by J.D. Levine, the Stags held a healthy lead of 51-35 with 11:58 left to play. Cal Lutheran made a push following the Levine three, Mallory drained a three of his own and Cole drove to the basket for a layup to cut the CMS advantage to 11 points, 51-40. Miles Houston sank a pair of free-throws to cut the advantage to nine with 10:02 left in the second half. The run did not stop there for the Kingsmen as CLU capitalized on another layup by Cole to cut the lead to seven points, 51-44 with 9:32 left. 

Cal Lutheran cut the lead to as close as six points with 8:05 left to play but that was as close as the Kingsmen would get. A jumper by Horn and a three by Mitchell Kirsch sandwiched around a layup by Mike Shahan followed by another bucket on the inside by Horn pushed the advantage back to 12 with 5:30 left to play, 60-48. Mkpado would provide the proverbial knockout blow with a three at the 2:09 mark to stretch the lead to 17 points, 65-48. 

Horn scored 11 second-half points on 5-7 from the field, Mkpado added seven more points in the second stanza on 3-5 shooting and the Stags pulled away to a 67-51 victory on the road. CMS outrebounded Cal Lutheran 33-23 and forced the Kingsmen into 17 turnovers while holding them to just 16 made baskets from the field. The Stags created 10 steals with four of the five players in the starting lineup coming away with at least one steal. Maxwell Kirsch, Brian Kenyon, and Miles President finished with two steals apiece. 

The Stags remain tied with Pomona-Pitzer atop the conference at a 7-2 mark in SCIAC play. The Sagehens defeated La Verne 109-83 to keep pace with CMS for the top of the conference table. 

CMS Men's basketball is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 1, traveling to Whittier to face the Poets for the second time this season. CMS defeated Whittier 76-67 at Roberts Pavilion back on Jan. 4 and look to complete the season sweep with tip scheduled for 2 p.m. at Dave Jacobs Court.