REDLANDS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team led by as many as 22 points in the first half, and had to hold off a furious comeback effort from Redlands, before surviving with an 89-87 win in the SCIAC Tournament semifinal round on Friday evening at Currier Gymnasium.
Will Housholter finished with a career-high 27 points, as the third-seeded Stags improve to 19-7 overall and move on to face top-seeded Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks on Sunday. The Kingsmen used a last-second three-pointer to defeat Whittier by one in its semifinal. Redlands, which had two attempts to win the game in the final 10 seconds, falls to 21-4 with the loss.
The Stags took a 52-32 lead into halftime, but Redlands caught fire in the second half, scoring 55 points, and pulling within 86-85 on a three-pointer by Chozen Amadi with a minute to go. Houselholter then beat the Bulldog pressure defense and got to the rim for a key lay-up to make it a three-point lead with 36 seconds to play, but Redlands answered right back to within 88-87 with 27 seconds left.
After a Stag turnover, Kendrick Currey missed a go-ahead shot with 10 seconds left and
Neil Owens secured a big defensive rebound. After splitting two at the line, Amadi tried a stepback three for the win, but couldn't convert, and time expired before Redlands could get off a putback.
CMS first surged in front with a 9-0 run starting at 10:03 mark of the first half, highlighted by a fast-break layup by
Reid Jones at 9:55, creating a 21-14 lead. The half concluded with CMS firmly in control, leading 52-32, thanks to a late scoring surge that included consecutive fast-break layups by Owens.
Householter shot 9-14 from the floor on the way to his 27 points.
Reid Jones tallied 20 points, five assists, and three steals.
AJ Rohosy contributed significantly on the boards with a team-high 12 rebounds, including five offensive and seven defensive.
CMS will head to Cal Lutheran for a rematch of last year's SCIAC finals, which the Stags won before returning to Thousand Oaks a week later and earning an NCAA Regional title with wins over St. Thomas and Whitworth.
