CMS Men's Basketball Wins Defensive Battle with Pomona-Pitzer 57-53

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Rhett Carter had 18 points and Matt Meredith hit a key three-pointer in the final minute to double the Stag lead as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team prevailed in a tight defensive battle with Pomona-Pitzer on Saturday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS improves to 5-1 on the season and 2-0 in the SCIAC, where they will remain for four weeks until league play begins again with a Jan. 1 game against Whittier. Pomona-Pitzer falls to 5-3 overall and 1-1 in the SCIAC with the loss. 

A Carter jump shot with 1:59 left put the Stags ahead 48-43, and he had a blocked shot at the other end to help CMS get a key stop. The Sagehens got the ball back, though, and Matthew Eberle connected on a jumper with 1:12 to go to make it a one-possession game at 48-45. 

The Stags worked the shot clock down on their next possession, and Brian Kenyon was able to find Meredith open on the left wing outside the three-point line. Meredith buried the shot, doubling the CMS lead to 51-45 and forcing Pomona-Pitzer to take a timeout.

Kenyon earned a defensive rebound off the ensuing Pomona-Pitzer miss, and Josh Angle made two foul shots with 22 seconds left to effectively seal it. Angle finished 6-6 at the line in the final minute as the Sagehens fouled him intentionally twice more. 

For the second time in the last week, the close to the first half was important for the Stags success. At last week's David Wells Classic, CMS was down by 19 points, but finished the first half on an 11-0 run to cut into the Linfield lead to eight before coming back for a seven-point win. 

This time, Pomona-Pitzer took a 24-15 lead with 3:07 left in the half, but CMS closed on a 7-0 run to make it just a two-point deficit at the break. Carter started the run with a jump shot, TJ Askew hit a three-pointer, and Carter finished it off with a putback to make it a 24-22 Pomona-Pitzer lead at the half. 

The Stags finally moved in front in the second half after Josh Angle converted a lay-up to tie the score 29-29 and Carter hit a short jumper with 14:42 left. A Meredith three-pointer off a Carter assist gave CMS its largest lead to that point at 34-29, and Pomona-Pitzer was unable to catch the Stags the rest of the way. 

CMS held Pomona-Pitzer to just 32.7 percent shooting on the day (18-55), while forcing 14 turnovers, led by three steals from Meredith. Askew finished with 11 points to score in double figures for the sixth straight game to start the year, Angle added 10 and Meredith had a solid performance with eight points and nine rebounds, including the big three-pointer late. 

CMS will be back in action on Friday when it hosts California Miramar at 7 p.m., before meeting UC Santa Cruz on Sunday at 4 p.m. in a regional matchup.