No Signs of Rust as No. 13 CMS Men's Basketball Rolls Past Haverford 71-44

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Josh Angle had 26 points in 22 minutes as the No. 13-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team, coming off a two-week lay-off, built a lead of as many as 42 points before settling for a 71-44 win over Haverford on Friday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

Justin Pratt added 16 points and Brian Kenyon had a career-high 12 assists and one turnover for CMS, which had both a 23-0 run and a 21-0 run during the contest. The Stags improve to 10-1 on the year with its seventh win in a row, while Haverford, which dropped a six-point game at Pomona-Pitzer on Thursday night, slips to 3-7 with the loss. 

CMS clamped down on the defensive end in the first half and held Haverford scoreless for over 10 minutes in a 23-0 run, turning a 12-10 lead with 13:30 to go into a 35-10 lead, before Nate Torres made two foul shots with 3:13 showing on the first-half clock to end the drought. 

The Stags took a 39-16 lead into the break after Pratt closed out the scoring with two foul shots, and then opened the second half with 19 straight points, extending the run over both halves to 21-0, to take its largest lead at 58-16 with 15:56 left. CMS scored on its first eight possessions of the second half, with Angle hitting a two and a three to start the run, followed by Pratt making four baskets in a row. 

Angle then knocked down two straight three-pointers on Kenyon feeds to get up to 26 points on the night and make it a 58-16 contest. He checked out of the game for good with 15:03 to go in the game, and Max McCalla knocked down a three off another Kenyon feed with 14:39 to go, before Kenyon checked out for good with his 12 assists with 13:57 left, surpassing his previous high of 10 set last year against California Miramar. 

Kenyon upped his average for the season to 6.6 assists per game with his effort, while his assist-to-turnover ratio moved to an astonishing 5.2-to-1, with 73 assists and only 14 turnovers on the year. He has also been named the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week three times htis season, and did his role on that again by helping to hold Haverford's three starting guards to a combined five points on 2-15 shooting. 

Kiran Kruse had 10 points on 4-5 shooting for CMS, as he and Angle (10-12) combined to shoot 14-17 after a two-week layoff. Angle missed his first shot of the game, and his only other miss was a blocked shot where he got the offensive rebound. Kruse was 4-4 in the first half before sitting with two fouls, and then missed his only attempt of the second half as the Stags went to their bench early. 

CMS will be back in action when it returns to SCIAC play with a road game at La Verne on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.