3,003 minutes of magic. 1,647 points for his beloved team. A mountain of SCIAC accolades thrusting him into the national spotlight. With his name enshrined among the greats, Josh Angle’s CG ’24 mark on Stag legacy is undeniable.
As the final buzzer sounded on Friday, March 8, it signified not just the conclusion of a game, nor a season, but the finale of an illustrious career. While it marked the end of an era, the titanic impact Angle has had on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) men’s basketball is sure to continue to reverberate through the halls of Roberts Pavilion.
Head coach Ken Scalmanini described Angle as “the most dedicated player” he has ever had, noting how his impact on the program transcends the scoreboard.
“I’m gonna miss him a lot,” Scalmanini said. “You’d think it’s just him making all the baskets, but it’s the day to day [energy] that he brings to the program that everybody sees. I cherish that.”
After starting this season with a 2-4 record, Angle helped turn the Stags around, ending the season 22-6 overall. After winning the SCIAC for the first time since 2018, Angle eventually led CMS across the country to their first ever appearance in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball national championship tournament where they competed in the highest stakes game the program has ever seen.
Despite an impressive rally from a 14-point deficit with two minutes left on the clock, CMS fell just short to Nebraska Wesleyan at the Kirby Field House in Easton, Pennsylvania in a heartbreaking 74-70 loss ending both their season and their playoff run. Though this loss forced Angle to exit the collegiate court for the last time, he said he was proud of what his team accomplished this season.
“After starting 2-4, I think all of us had a really good mindset change and sort of recognized that we all needed to be tougher both mentally and physically to be able to do what we wanted to do as a team,” he said.
Although Angle gave credit to all 17 members of the roster, his teammate of five years, Rhett Carter CG ’24, recognized Angle’s leadership as the driving force behind this change.
“He’s definitely one of those guys who leads by example,” Carter said. “You see what he does and you want to work harder and emulate what he does.”
Although he now comfortably sits atop the Stags’ history books, Angle’s monumental impact on the team was not obvious from the onset. Instead, Carter said his greatness is the result of his work ethic.
“He didn’t necessarily play a lot right away,” Carter said. “But he’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen and he kept putting in the work and he got his opportunity somewhere in freshman year and ever since he’s continued to work and continued to get better and he’s just become our guy.”
Originally from Lake Oswego, Oregon, Angle dawned cardinal and gold for the first time five years ago in 2019. As a fawn, he appeared in 20 games for the Stags and averaged 4.5 points per game. He first put himself on the map with a 2019-20 season high 15 points against Sixth Street rivals Pomona-Pitzer, but his rise to fame was quickly halted by the pandemic that took away his sophomore season.
“At the end of [my freshmen season] I felt really optimistic about moving forward at CMS”Angle said. “And then sophomore year was COVID-19 … I had that whole year off just training and living at home.”
As the NCAA re-emerged after the shutdown, Angle came back with a new fire. Now a junior, he stepped into his role as an upperclassman team leader, starting in all 24 games and more than quadrupling his average points per game, finishing with 18.5 across the season and ending four games with more than 30 points. By the time his junior season ended, Angle’s dominance was manifest and his path to Stag greatness was unquestionable.
“Coming back junior year he really stepped up and became one of the biggest leaders on our team and took over and really set an example for everyone on our team of what we need to do,” Carter said.
By the time Angle reached his final year at Claremont McKenna College (CMC), his position as the Tom Brady of Stags’ basketball was written in stone. He averaged 21.5 points per game and surpassed the 1,000 milestone. After leading his team to a second place finish the SCIAC regular season with an overall record of 17-8, Angle’s never ending flow of accolades started to roll in.
Scalmanini credited his improvement to what he described as his unparalleled work ethic. According to Scalmanini, Angle put in numerous hours outside of practice.
“He’s in the top three of the most improved guys I’ve ever had,” Scalmanini said. “It’s his work ethic that makes him really good and sets him apart from everybody else.”
His constantly dominant performance earned him a plethora of honors after the 2022-23 season; Angle received First-Team Academic All-American honors, a Third-Team D3hoops.com All-American selection and was named a Jostens Trophy finalist — awarded for a player’s athletic performance, academic achievements and community service.
In May of 2023, Angle graduated from CMC with a 3.93 GPA as an economics major in the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance. However, he decided his work as a Stag was not done yet.
After debating using his extra year of NCAA eligibility granted due to losing his sophomore season, Angle said that the realization that he only has a “finite time playing the sport he loves” convinced him to continue to play and he decided to pursue a master’s degree in management at Claremont Graduate University in order to get on final season with the Stags.
“When I thought about places to do it, there was of course potential intrigue of going in the transfer portal and doing all these different things, but when I really considered what that would look like, I didn’t think I would find a place where I would have a better experience between knowing the coaches, having so many good friends on the team and being in Claremont,” Angle said.
Coming back to Roberts Pavilion as a graduate student, Angle’s twilight season shattered expectations.
After the season ended, Angle earned one of 10 selections to the NCAA DIII Men’s Basketball All-America first team in a vote from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Angle becomes just the second player in CMS men’s basketball history to earn first-team All-America honors from the NABC, joining Chris Greene, who earned the distinction back in 1992. Angle was named the SCIAC Athlete of the Year and then went on to earn the Most Outstanding Player of the SCIAC Postseason Championship.
This season also cemented Angle’s place in CMS lore. Angle now sits as the most prolific three-point shooter in Stags basketball history, with 237 shots made from behind the arc, also posting the highest single-season total for made threes with 83. He is on the podium with the bronze medal for total points for the Stags.
Looking forward, Angle is hoping to continue to play the sport he loves at a professional level in international leagues.
Scalmanini said that Angle’s simultaneous role as the most talented and most adored player on the team is an unprecedented and special thing.
“The [first-years] adore him and like him,” Scalamini said. “The seniors respect him and the sophomores and juniors wish they were him. It’s unbelievable. I’ve never had it like this where the best player is so cheered by the rest of the team.”
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