Late Run Leads Occidental to Victory over CMS Men's Basketball

CLAREMONT, Calif. - In a back and forth matchup that had 13 ties and five-lead changes, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak snapped with a 78-66 defeat to Occidental on Saturday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the loss, CMS slips to 13-3 overall on the year and 7-2 in SCIAC play, while Occidental improved to 7-7 overall and 3-6 in the SCIAC with the victory. 

Josh Angle led the Stags with 14 points and TJ Askew had 13, six rebounds and five blocks. Matt Meredith finished with nine points and a team-high 13 rebounds, just one board shy of tying his season-high. Kiran Kruse added 10 points on 3 of 6 shooting.

Both teams traded baskets to start the game before the Stags took a 17-14 lead after a Kruse three-pointer with 9:06 left in the first half. The Tigers responded five minutes later and used a 9-2 run to take a 23-19 lead after a Kyle Dosa three, only before CMS retook its advantage after Meredith converted a long range shot of his own to give the Stags a 32-29 advantage just before halftime.

The Stags outrebounded the Tigers narrowly (37-34), but it was Occidental who shot 50 percent from three-point range on 7 of 14 makes, while CMS made just 3 of 16 shots. 

Angle gave the Stags its largest lead of the game, 58-52 after making a pair a free throws with 7:41 remaining in the second half. A 12-6 run by the Tigers, though, turned a six point CMS lead into 64-64 ball game after a Sydney Shipp layup with 3:23 remaining. Askew made a pair of free throws on the next possession to cut the Occidental lead to one with 2:31 left, but the Stags were unable to score a basket the rest the way, as Occidental closed on an 11-0 run to hold on and give CMS just their second SCIAC defeat.

CMS will look to get back on the win column on Wednesday when it travels to La Verne for a 7 p.m. contest.