THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team battled until the end in a back-and-forth SCIAC game that saw six lead changes but ultimately fell short in a 68-63 loss against Cal Lutheran on Wednesday night at Gilbert Arena.

AJ Rohosy had a game-high 29 points and seven rebounds for CMS, which slips to 17-7 overall and 10-4 in the SCIAC with the loss. Will Householter added 12 points on 5-of-6 field goal attempts for the Stags. 

Cal Lutheran moves to 20-4 overall and 13-2 in the SCIAC with the win and is currently tied with Redlands for first place. CMS sits at third place in the conference with one more regular season game remaining while Whitter (17-7, 10-5) is one game below the Stags in fourth place.

Devon Lewis finished with 18 points and Stephen Davis added 10 points, six rebounds and three assists for the Kingsmen. 

Rohosy scored the first two baskets of the game to give CMS a 4-0 lead and Caelan Jones made a jumper to give the Stags an 8-6 advantage with 15:38 left in the first half. Cal Lutheran took a 22-16 lead after Ryan Hoffman made a three-pointer and a pair free throws with 6:59 remaining, and the Kingsmen went on to take 32-28 lead at halftime.

CMS trailed by as many as nine early in the second half after Lewis converted an and-one layup that gave Cal Lutheran 37-28 lead. However, CMS responded with a 20-10 run to retake a 48-47 advantage that was capped by a Cahal Connolly layup, giving the Stags their first lead of the second half with 10:31 left. 

The Kingsmen went back up by five, 58-53 after Davis made a lay-up and Nick Attanasio added a three-pointer with just under five minutes to play. Rohosy scored four consecutive points minutes late to tie the game at 59-59 with 2:25 remaining but Jake Martin made a three-pointer to give the Kingsmen a 64-61 lead with 1:19 left in the game.

Matt Meredith drove to the basket and converted a lay-up to get within one, 64-63 but the Stags were unable to score from there after Lewis and Andrew Pipersburgh made a pair of free throws to give the Kingsmen a 68-63 victory.

CMS will next close out the regular season on Saturday with a road match at Chapman. Tip-off is at 4 p.m.