CMS Men's Basketball Places Four Seniors on All-SCIAC First Team

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Brian Kenyon was named the SCIAC Men's Basketball Defensive Player of the Year, and was joined on the All-SCIAC first team by fellow Claremont-Mudd-Scripps seniors Josh Angle, Rhett Carter and Kiran Kruse, the conference office announced today.

The awards were announced on the morning of the SCIAC Championship semifinals, when CMS will host Redlands this evening at 7 p.m. Tickets are free with SCIAC ID, $10 at the door, or $8 in advance through TicketLeap (link here). 

Kenyon was named the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week four times during the regular season, after regularly drawing the opposing team's top backcourt scorer and holding him below his average. That trend started from the first week of the season, when he held All-American Josiah Johnson of Mary Hardin-Baylor to 3-10 shooting, and then held Brenden Patrick of Lewis & Clark (currently 21.5 ppg) to just four points. He also leads the nation (all divisions) in assist to turnover ratio (5.6-to-1) and is fourth in assists per game (7.0). 

Angle ranks 19th in the country in scoring (21.6 ppg) and is ninth in three-point field goal percentage (45.7) while leading the SCIAC in scoring by over 3 ppg over the player in second place. He has scored at least 14 points in every game this season, and has a streak of 47 straight games in double figures, dating back to a game early in his junior campaign. He went over the 1000-point plateau this winter, despite only having 91 points after his sophomore season, coming off the bench as a freshman and losing his sophomore season to the pandemic. 

Carter has been an inside force for the Stags, averaging 15.0 points and 7.1 rebounds per game on 57.3 percent shooting from the floor. He was twice named the SCIAC Defensive Player of the Week down the stretch of the regular season, including after a 17-point, 18-rebound (17 defensive) effort in a win over Redlands that clinched the No. 2 seed in the SCIAC Tournament. He also had 24 points in the first meeting with Redlands, including a pivotal basket in the final minute to help CMS to the comeback win. 

Kruse has averaged 15.4 points on 44.4 percent shooting from three-point territory, and 88.0 percent shooting at the line. He stepped up big in non-conference games against nationally ranked teams, with a career-high 28 points against Saint Thomas, and 25 points in a win over No. 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor. He also had a stretch of 22 points against Redlands, 22 against Pomona-Pitzer and 21 against Cal Lutheran in three straight contests against the other teams which qualified for the SCIAC Tournament. 

CMS will try to defend its home court tonight against Redlands, and with a win, it will move on to tomorrow night's SCIAC championship game in Claremont. If top-seeded Pomona-Pitzer wins its Friday semifinal, the game will be played across the street at Voelkel Gymnasium, but if Cal Lutheran defeats Pomona-Pitzer and CMS can defend its home court against Redlands, the Stags will host the final on Saturday night.