Josh Angle Matches Career High with 30 Points to Help Stags Hold Off UC Santa Cruz

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Josh Angle matched his career high with 30 points on 8-14 shooting, and Rhett Carter (14 points) added some key plays late at both ends as the CMS men's basketball team was able to hold off UC Santa Cruz and take a 73-67 win on Sunday afternoon at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, CMS improves to 6-1 on the season and stretches its winning streak to four games, while UC Santa Cruz slips to 2-6 on the year, including 1-6 against SCIAC teams (and a win over Whitman). 

CMS led by 11 at the half, as Angle had 19 of his points in the first 20 minutes to help stake the Stags to a 46-35 lead. However, the Banana Slugs came out in the second half and clawed their way back into it, scoring the first six points to make it a 46-41 contest. 

Luke Webb came off the bench to snap a five-minute scoring drought for CMS to start the second half with a short jumper, but UC Santa Cruz came all the way back to cut it to a single point at 48-47.

Angle found some space, though, to knock down a momentum-changing three-pointer off a feed from Max McCalla, and Matt Meredith went coast-to-coast for a layup to push the lead back to six. the Banana Slugs cut it in half with a three-pointer, but Webb hit another important basket to stop UC Santa Cruz from gaining momentum, then had a steal to set up a TJ Askew basket to make it a seven-point lead. 

UC Santa Cruz stayed in it, and got to within a single possession at 63-61 with 4:15 to go, but Carter was able to hit a 17-foot jumper off an Angle pass to push the lead to 65-61. After the Stags earned a stop, Carter scored again to make it a six-point lead, then he killed two straight Banana Slug possessions with a steal and a block, forcing a travel after his blocked shot with 47 seconds left. 

Askew (2-2) and Angle (4-4) finished the game off by making six straight pressure foul shots to seal the win. Angle was 8-8 from the line on the day to improve to 29-30 on the year (96.7 percent), while equaling his career high of 30 points set in a season-opening 73-59 win against Puget Sound back on Nov. 19. Meredith had a strong all-around stat line with seven points, 10 rebounds and five assists.

The win was the 398th career victory for head coach Ken Scalmanini, who now stands two away from picking up career win No. 400 in only his 23rd season at the helm. He will go for 399 when the Stags return to action on Friday for a home game against Pacific (Ore.) at 7:30 p.m.