The second-seeded RV Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges Stags defeated No. 8 California Lutheran University, 61-55 in Thousand Oaks to claim their first SCIAC Tournament title in five seasons.
Box Score
Tournament Central
California Lutheran Athletics Recap
CMS Athletics Recap
The visiting Stags maintained a narrow lead early in the first half until SCIAC Athlete of the Year and Tournament Most Outstanding Player Josh Angle converted a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays to go with an assist on three straight possessions to stake CMS to an 18-9 lead at the 11:48 mark. The margin remained in single digits but Cal Lutheran was unable to pull any closer than within three points before halftime, when they trailed 32-27. CMS came out firing again to open the second half, scoring seven unanswered points to key an 11-2 run over the first five minutes. Though CLU responded quickly by cutting the deficit back to six with 10 minutes left on the clock, The Stags kept their composure and never allowed it to become a single-possession game through the final whistle.
Angle paced the Stags with 17 points while Will Householter stepped up in the clutch with a 9-10 line at the charity stripe and 15 points. The Kinsmen played 10 men deep with each seeing between 12-27 minutes on the court. Brock Susko was one of three to score in double figures, including a perfect 3-3 mark from downtown.
The Stags and Kinsgmen will await their NCAA Championship fate, which they will learn on the Selection Show this Monday, Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. PT.
Follow the SCIAC on Threads (@theSCIAC), X - formerly Twitter (@theSCIAC) and Instagram (@thesciac) with hashtags #SCIACtion and #SoCalSoGood. Watch most SCIAC games, matches, and meets online via mobile devices and on OTT apps - Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire TV, and Android - search for 'SCIAC' and download the channel.