Pratt's Perfect Game Leads CMS Men's Basketball to Rout of Puget Sound

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Justin Pratt shot 8-8 from the floor with no turnovers on his way to 16 points, and the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team dominated the whole way as it captured an 82-48 win over Puget Sound on the first day of the David Wells Classic at Pomona-Pitzer's Voelkel Gymnasium.

With the win, CMS moves to 4-1 on the young season, while Puget Sound slips to 3-2 with its first Division III loss of the year. 

Josh Angle led CMS with 18 points, while Pratt and Rhett Carter each had 16, as the Stags were able to spread minutes around on the first of back-to-back days. As a team, CMS shot 57.9 percent from the floor (33-57), working mostly inside the arc, as it took just 11 threes on the day, making three of them. Brian Kenyon and Max McCalla shared the point guard duties, with each tallying six assists, while Angle added five. 

First-year James Frye contributed seven points off the bench, the first points of his young career in his second appearance. Cahal Connolly was also 3-3 off the bench, although he did have one bucket to his credit already in a 95-63 win over Lewis & Clark. 

Defensively, the Stags held Puget Sound to just 19-64 shooting (29.7 percent), while nobody on the Loggers managed more than seven points. 

CMS led 49-21 at the half, taking control with an early 18-0 run that turned a 7-6 deficit into a 24-7 lead. Angle started the run with a three-pointer, and Pratt capped it off with three baskets in a row. An Angle three-point play gave the Stags their largest lead of the half at 49-18, before the Loggers ended the opening 20 minutes with a three-pointer. 

Cahal Connolly's lay-up with 8:54 to play gave CMS its largest lead of the night at 43 points (71-28) before Puget Sound was able to make the final deficit 34. 

The Stags will be back in action on the second day of the David Wells Classic tomorrow night, when they host UC Santa Cruz at Roberts Pavilion for a 6:30 p.m. tip-off.