Claremont, Calif. - An early hold on first place in the SCIAC will be on the line when the Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team hosts Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the first installment of its neighborhood rivalry on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m.
CMS will make the 1,700-foot road trip across Sixth Street and bring a perfect 14-0 record on the year and a No. 17 national ranking (in the NCAA's Jan. 10 poll) into Voelkel Gymnasium. The Sagehens are 8-5 overall, but are tied for first in the SCIAC with the Stags so far at 3-0 in a bounce-back season. Pomona-Pitzer is only one win shy of matching last year's win total (9-16), after winning nine SCIAC titles in its previous 17 years.
In addition, three of Pomona-Pitzer's five losses have come to scholarship programs (Division I CSU Bakersfield, and NAIA Biola and Cal State San Marcos), and one has come in double-overtime to the defending national champions (St. Thomas). The fifth loss came at Redlands in the championship game of the Lee Fulmer Tournament on December 3, but the Sagehens avenged that loss with a 60-51 road win at Redlands last Wednesday.
Pomona-Pitzer also lost the first Redlands game when it was playing without its leading scorer, freshman guard Michael Cohen (Tarzana, Calif.), who was out with an injury. Cohen is the only Sagehen in double figures in scoring at 11.6 points per game, although he averaged over 20 points per game in his first three games before his injury, and has averaged eight points per game since returning.
While the Sagehens may lack a dominant scorer, they boast outstanding balance and efficiency on offense. Ten players average at least four points per game, while as a team, Pomona-Pitzer is shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and 40.0 percent from three-point territory. That represents a huge improvement over last year, when it shot only 36.8 percent from the floor and 26.8 percent from three-point territory on its way to a 9-16 final record.
The Sagehens are also accomplishing a lot with a young line-up, as its top five scorers are all freshmen and sophomores. Sophomore forwards Jake Klewer (Tucson, Ariz.) and John Weiss (Cleveland, Ohio) have put up nearly identical stat lines this season, with Klewer averaging 9.8 points and 6.8 rebounds, and Weiss right behind at 9.2 points and 6.2 rebounds. Freshman forward Jack Klukas (Eden Prairie, Minn.) is averaging 8.9 points, while freshman guard Kyle McAndrews (Seattle, Wash.), who took over in the starting line-up when Cohen was injured, is averaging 7.8 points.
Pomona-Pitzer still has solid veteran leadership around its young nucleus, as senior guard Evan Zahniser (Mercer Island, Wash.) handles the starting point guard reigns and averages 5.4 points. Senior forward Greg Wright (Oakland, Calif.) and graduate student R.J. Maki (Claremont, Calif.) provide scoring off the bench with 5.4 points and 5.2 points, respectively, while senior wing Danny Brown (Eugene, Ore.) has been a spark off the bench as of late, with 4.1 points per game, including 10 against Cal State San Marcos. Junior forward Po Grant (Brookline, Mass.) is also a dangerous three-point shooter off the bench, averaging 4.9 points, with 15 of his 18 field goals coming from beyond the arc.
While the Sagehens may not have one dominant player in the line-up, CMS has fifth-year senior Chris Blees, the 2010 SCIAC Player of the Year, who averages 16.3 points on 53.6 percent shooting and pulls down 8.3 rebounds per game. Senior forward Mani Maceira is also in double-figures with 11.6 points per game, while the Stags are able to spread the floor around its two inside players with plenty of three-point shooters. Defensively, CMS holds its opponents to only 56.4 points per game.
The neighborhood rivalry usually brings out big crowds (see photo from last year) as students from all five Claremont Colleges are within walking distance from both gymnasiums, which are separated by just a third of a mile. CMS won both meetings last year, defeating the Sagehens 68-61 at home and then winning the regular season finale at Pomona-Pitzer 59-44. The Stags have a three-game winning streak in the series, since the Sagehens captured a low-scoring 47-36 victory at home on January 27, 2010.
The two teams will meet again in the regular season finale at CMS on February 21, and could potentially meet a third time when the SCIAC Tournament gets underway on February 24. The top four teams qualify for the SCIAC, and both the Sagehens and the Stags have put themselves in good shape to qualify with their quick starts to the conference season.
Live stats and video for the game can be accessed at www.sagehens.com.
