GOLETA, Calif. - Trailing by 10 strokes to host Westmont midway through the second round, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's golf team had a furious comeback before falling by three at the Westmont Invitational on Tuesday at Sandpiper Golf Club. 

Arnold He (-2), Ryan Liang (-2) and Jamison Tan (-1) all shot in the red on Tuesday's second round, as the Stags shot even-par 288 as a team, one day after a 301 left them seven shots off the lead going into Tuesday. He, who shot an even-par 72 on Monday, finished at -2, just one shot shy of individual medalist honors. Tan ended up tied for fourth, while Liang, who shot a hole-in-one on the 132-yard sixth hole on Monday, ended up tied for seventh. 

As a team, the Stags started slowly on Tuesday, standing at +5 through five holes, but collectively, they picked up their level of play to make a run at the host Warriors. Liang opened with a bogey on the 10th hole, but had three birdies and 14 pars the rest of the way. He, meanwhile, had two birdies and 11 pars over his final 13 holes, while Tan was -3 on his back nine. 

Westmont, meanwhile, struggled down the homestretch, shooting +6 over the final three holes, but the Warriors had enough of a margin to hold on. Nicholas Rocha also parred the final two holes to hang on to individual medalist honors at -3, one stroke ahead of He. 

On Monday, He had an impressive stretch of five birdies in seven holes, enabling him to finish at even par. Jonathan Zhang had a stretch of three birdies in five holes, while Liang carded the first hole-in-one in his young career, and the first for the Stags since Kevin Jiang had one at the NCAA Championships a year ago. 

CMS will turn its attention to the spring season next, as the Stags will try to defend their SCIAC title and earn their way back to the NCAA Championships, where they finished third in 2022 and 2023, and came in 13th place a year ago.