CMS Men's Basketball Holds off La Verne, Moves Back into First in SCIAC
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (14-3, 8-2 SCIAC) | 31 | 45 | 76 |
|
La Verne (3-15, 0-8 SCIAC) | 33 | 37 | 70 |
LA VERNE, Calif. - TJ Askew had 12 of his 21 points in the second half as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team was able to fight off an upset bid from La Verne and pick up a key SCIAC road win with a 76-70 victory over the Leopards on Wednesday evening at the La Verne Sports Pavilion.
With the win, and a Pomona-Pitzer loss to Chapman, CMS moves back into first place in the SCIAC at 8-2, while improving its overall record to 14-3. Pomona-Pitzer now sits at 7-2 in the league and Chapman at 6-2. La Verne, which was looking for its first league win of the year, slips to 3-15 overall and 0-8 in conference.
The Leopards held a narrow 33-31 lead at the half, and surged ahead by as many as seven early in the second half, taking a 41-34 lead on a Seth Shaw layup with 16:49 left. After an exchange of baskets made it 45-38, Askew had a three-point play to close the gap to 45-41 with 14:36 remaining.
Matt Meredith then followed with a layup for the Stags to make it a two-point game, and Brian Kenyon capped off a 7-0 run with two foul shots to tie the score. With the score tied 49-49, Kiran Kruse put CMS ahead to stay for good with a three-pointer with exactly 10 minutes left, and a Sam Johnson jumper capped a 7-0 run that gave the Stags a 56-49 advantage.
La Verne got back within a single possession, but Askew hit a three-pointer to stretch the lead to 63-57 with 5:50 remaining, and then added a jumper after a Rhett Carter foul shot to give CMS a 66-57 lead. After La Verne hit two foul shots, Askew found Meredith for an old-fashioned three-point play to push it 10 with 4:05 to go, and the Stags were able to hold on from there.
Josh Angle finished with 15 points for CMS, while Johnson had 11 off the bench and Meredith added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds. The Stags had a strong floor game as well, committing only nine turnovers, while forcing 16 from La Verne.
CMS will be back in action on Saturday for a big SCIAC road game against Chapman in a battle between two of the teams currently tied in the loss column in the league standings.