CMS Men's Basketball Picks Up Dominant Home Win over Pacific

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Rhett Carter had a double-double in the first half (10 points, 10 rebounds) and finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds, and Josh Angle added 22 points and seven assists as the No. 15 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team rolled to an 83-60 win over Pacific (Ore.) on Friday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

With the win, the Stags hit the holiday break with a 9-1 overall record before resuming action in two weeks against Haverford. Pacific slips to 5-4 on the year with the loss. 

CMS got almost all of its scoring from four players, as Kiran Kruse added 20 points, while Justin Pratt had 17 points, to go along with the 22 from Angle and the 19 from Carter. Max McCalla was the only other player to score for CMS with five points, although Brian Kenyon had a solid floor game at point guard with eight assists and only two turnovers.   

The Stags took control early, taking an 11-2 lead after Angle made three foul shots. Kruse made a pair of three-pointers to give CMS double-digit leads at 16-5 and 19-8, while Carter pushed the lead to its largest margin of the half (37-20) with a putback with 2:51 left. 

Pacific was able to get back within 41-30 at the break and closed to within single digits at 41-32 after its first possession of the second half, but Carter answered with a lay-up off a Pratt assist, and then Pratt fed Kruse for a four-point play on a three-pointer and a foul to quickly get the lead back to 15. 

The Boxers had one final push to get within 12 at 61-49, but the Stags answered with a 13-2 run to take their largest lead at 23 points. Angle started it with a three-pointer and, after Pacific got two back, he then fed Pratt for a jumper to make the score 66-51. Pratt scored again to push the lead to 68-51, and then Carter scored twice around a Kruse basket to finish off the run.  

Carter had one more basket to give CMS a 25-point lead at 80-55, before the Stags settled for a 23-point win, with McCalla scoring the final three points of the game for the Stags. 

CMS ended up with a 42-23 edge in the rebounding department, led by Carter's 15, while Pratt had seven and Kenyon had six. Kruse led the CMS defense with three steals and a block, as the Stags held Pacific to just 38.7 percent shooting (24-62), including 5-21 from three-point territory (23.8 percent). 

CMS will take on Haverford in two weeks for a 5 p.m. home game on Dec. 30, before getting back to SCIAC play after the new year with a road game at La Verne on Jan. 4.