CMS Men's Basketball's Late Rally Comes Up Just Short in 74-70 NCAA Sectional Defeat

HAMPDEN SYDNEY, Va. - Caelan Jones had 34 points on 9-16 shooting from three-point territory, and Josh Angle had 19 points in his final collegiate contest, but the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team was unable to come all the way back from a 14-point deficit with two minutes left, as it fell 74-70 to Nebraska Wesleyan on Friday afternoon in the NCAA Round of 16.

The loss ends the CMS season at 22-7, as the Stags advanced further in the NCAA Tournament than they ever have before, winning the regional at Cal Lutheran last week with victories over St. Thomas (Texas) and Whitworth. Nebraska Wesleyan, ranked No. 19 nationally, improves to 26-4 and advances to the sectional finals tomorrow against either Hampden-Sydney or Rowan. 

Rhett Carter went over the 1000-point plateau in his final game with the Stags on a first-half jumper, finishing with 1005. Angle, Carter and Will King, who had eight assists and no turnovers to cap off a career in which he had over a 3:1 assist to turnover ratio in three seasons at Colby and one with CMS, are all in graduate school and will be three departures off this season's team. 

Caelan Jones is also in graduate school, but will be back for another season next year, after scoring 34 in his final game of this campaign. He was able to keep the Stags in striking distance with 14 in the first half, as Nebraska Wesleyan took a 44-32 lead into the break, and then had 20 more in the second half. 

His efforts appeared to be for naught as Nebraska Wesleyan held its largest lead of 64-49 with less than five minutes to play. Angle, though, knocked down a three and then had a steal and fast break lay-up to quickly get the lead down to 64-54 with 4:20 go.

Nebraska Wesleyan got the lead back up to 70-56 with 2:15 left before the Stags gave it one final push, cutting it to a one-possession game with 18 seconds to go. Jones hit two straight three-pointers, around a missed front end of a one-and-one from Nebraska Wesleyan, to cut the deficit to 70-62. 

The Prairie Wolves again missed the front end, and the Stags hit the offensive boards three times before Angle converted a lay-up and drew a foul to make it 70-65 with 50 seconds to play. After Nebraska Wesleyan split two at the line, Will Householter buried a corner three to suddenly make it 71-68 with 20 seconds left, scoring 12 points on four possessions to give themselves a chance in the closing seconds. 

Twice the ball went out of bounds as CMS trapped in the backcourt and the Stags were momentarily hopeful for a big turnover and a chance to tie, but the first one went back to Nebraska Wesleyan, and the second was called a reach-in foul.

Jones answered those two Prairie Wolves foul shots with a lay-up with nine seconds left to make it 73-70, but Nebraska Wesleyan's Carter Glenn split two at the line to make it a two-possession game, and the Stags were unable to cut into that four-point lead in the final seconds as the game ended 74-70. 

Glenn led the Prairie Wolves with 23 points on 10-14 shooting, while Peter Lash added 21. Jones' nine three-pointers was just one off the school record of 10 set by Bill Cornelius in 1995.

CMS will lose three experienced players next year, but will have forwards Caelan Jones and Matt Meredith returning, and will have back wing James Frye, who was injured during the postseason. First-year guards Householter and Reid Jones also earned valuable postseason experience this year that will carry over into next season.