REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Basketball team ended the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) regular season with a 74-70 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Senior Night.
Prior to the game, Head Coach Eric Bridgeland recognized his two graduates leaving the program, which included Darne Duckett (Oakland, CA) and Romeo Mays (Vallejo, CA).
With the win the Bulldogs improve back to .500 at 11-11, 7-8 SCIAC and lock themselves into the No. 6 seed in the upcoming SCIAC Post Season Tournament. They will now have to play Claremont-M-S again this Wednesday, February 23 at 7:00pm on the road inside Roberts Pavilion.
For the game Redlands shot 35% from the field, 23.8% from three-point territory, and 77.1% from the free-throw line. That proved the difference where the Bulldogs were 27-of-35 from the line compared to CMS' 9-of-19 mark. Despite only having 33 rebounds the Maroon and Grey did put up 32 points in the paint and scored 26 points off 22 CMS turnovers.
Three Bulldogs recorded double figures led by Mays and his 16 points, which included 12 coming from the free-throw line. He also had eight rebounds and three blocks. Neil Owens (Pasadena, CA) had a big game with 14 points and Josh Himel (Jacksonville, FL) off the bench was clutch down the stretch with 15 points going 4-of-5 from the field with a perfect 3-for-3 mark from deep.
It was back and forth in the early stages of the game with the Stags holding a lead as many as five on a few occasions. They led 16-12 at the 12:01 mark and then saw the Bulldogs erupt for seven in a row with Mays and Himel knocking down five free-throws and Himel making a layup inside giving UR an 18-16 lead. CMS was able to recover to regain the advantage, but an ensuing 7-0 run by the Bulldogs would swing the momentum once again with Gunner Wooden (Canton, MI) knocking down a triple, Khair Jackson (Canoga Park, CA) adding a layup and Justice Marmara (Arlington, TX) knocking down a jumper. The margin then moved to eight at 29-21 at the 6:16 mark following a pair of layins from Jackson. But again CMS continued to hang around with ten of the next twelve points pulling them within one 31-30. Mays was able to stop the run with a pair of free throws with 2:24 left and that then led to an Owens layup and another Mays jumper right before the half moving the score to 37-32.
The Stags started the second half hot with ten of the first thirteen points to take a 42-40 lead. After that it was back and forth with the largest advantage being six at 49-43 in favor of the Stags with 11:51 left. Owens put together four of his own within a :27 second window to make it a two point game and after that it was Himel converting inside and connecting on a long range three-pointer that made the deficit three.
Trailing 58-56 with 5:54 to go the Bulldogs found a spark on both ends picking up stops when they needed to and getting a lift on the offensive end. Himel drained a triple to put UR on top 59-58 and Mays added two more free throws to move the advantage to three. Then with 3:30 left Robert Power (Pacific Palisades, CA) drained a long range three-pointer and was followed by Owens who would create and knock down a jumper from inside the paint. This made the score 66-60 and despite the Stags efforts to foul late forcing extra opportunities it wouldn't be enough as Sam Abere (Lake Oswego, OR), Mays, Owens, and Himel would go 8-of-9 to seal the home victory.
