CLAREMONT, CA. -- The Pomona-Pitzer Men's Basketball team came up just short in their SCIAC tournament Semifinal matchup against SCIAC rival CMS by the score of 74-71 on Saturday night at Roberts Pavilion.
Season Impact: with the loss, the Sagehens end their season in the SCIAC Semifinals and drop to 19-7 overall.
The Sagehens were led by
Joe Cookson who had a game-high 22 points in the loss.
Pete Boyle went for 15 points while
Ty Bergman ended the night with 11.
CMS had a nice night shooting the basketball with higher percentages from the field and from three over the Sagehens. Pomona-Pitzer shot at 44.3% from the floor and 37% from three while CMS hit on 50.9% from the field and 42.1% from beyond the arc. CMS outscored the Sagehens in the paint 32-26, but the Sagehens capitalized on second-chance points with 16 to CMS's two while Pomona-Pitzer turned the ball over eight times and CMS with six turnovers on the night.
The Sixth Street Semifinal started out as a back-and-forth affair until CMS sparked an 8-0 run to take a 17-12 lead with six minutes gone in the first half. Pomona-Pitzer continued to trail by seven with 9:13 left in the first half and then made their run to take the lead at 31-29 after a three by Cookson with 5:43 left in the first half. The Sagehens dominated at the end of the first half and closed the half outscoring CMS 21-8 to take a 41-35 lead into the break.
The Sagehens kept their lead for the first five minutes of the second half up 51-44 four minutes in and took their largest lead of the night at 56-48 with just under 14 minutes to play. CMS immediately cut the lead down to one point at 58-57 with under 10 minutes to play and reclaimed the lead at 66-64 with 5:43 left on the clock.
The Stags came up with a few huge shots down the stretch that allowed them to create some space from Pomona-Pitzer late in the game. The Sagehens had chances to answer but couldn't find a clutch shot to fall as CMS led by three with the Sagehens forced to foul.
Pomona-Pitzer did have a chance to tie the game with a last-second shot by Cookson, but the ball hit the back iron and fell to the floor as CMS took the Sixth Street SCIAC Semifinal win over the Sagehens.
Up Next: The Sagehens will wait and see if they receive an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament to continue their 2024 season.
