1,470 fans crowded into Roberts Pavilion on Saturday, Feb. 15, for a rivalry rematch between the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) men’s basketball teams. The match ended in a 90-77 victory for the Stags on their senior day.
CMS Head Coach Ken Scalmanini described the intense atmosphere surrounding the rivalry.
“It’s an exciting game,” Scalmanini said. “They go to class together, the two different schools, so the element is a lot more exciting, a lot more pressure. They’re going to see each other the next day and know who played better.”
CMS took an early 11-4 lead. However, P-P responded with three-pointers from Matthew Diekmann PO ’28, Sam Lind PZ ’28 and Pete Boyle PO ’25, stealing the lead at 19-16 with nine minutes left in the first half.
CMS and P-P continued to go back and forth, but it was the Stags who secured a 39-33 halftime lead, partially thanks to 14 points from Neil Owens CG ‘26.
Though CMS started the second half hot, P-P managed to tie the game 58-58 with 10 minutes left. Despite this strong effort and a late push from the Sagehens, the Stags pulled away, winning 90-77 behind more late points from Owens, as well as Matt Meredith CM ‘25 and Will Householter CM ‘27.
Owens achieved multiple major milestones in this game, scoring a career-high 31 points and surpassing 1,000 career points.
“I have to give credit to my team,” Owens said. “I think they found me at the right times. I don’t think I really had to take a dribble to score — just tried to find open spots, and my teammates were looking for me and it just happened to be a good shooting night.”
Caelan Jones CG ’25 also had a strong performance, posting 21 points along with seven defensive rebounds. Jones was efficient from behind the arc, going five for seven on three-point attempts.
CMS led P-P in points in the paint, points off turnovers, second-chance points, fast-break points, steals and assists.
“I think what we did the best was that we came ready to play and adjusted to what they were giving us,” Jones said. “For myself and Neil, we shot the ball when we were open and just kind of kept it very simple and the same goes for everybody else on the team.”
After falling 72-71 in double overtime in the first rendition of the rivalry game, the Sagehens again struggled to match the Stags’ rhythm, committing 12 turnovers and notching only nine assists. In stark contrast, CMS recorded 21 assists and only eight turnovers.
Since the victory, CMS has defeated Caltech 90-66 and fallen to Cal Lutheran 68-63, now sitting at 17-7 overall and 10-4 in SCIAC. The Stags have clinched a spot in the league tournament and will look to finish a strong regular season with a road game against Chapman Feb. 22. As for P-P, they now sit at sixth place in SCIAC with records of 14-10 overall and 8-7 in SCIAC and will face La Verne on Feb. 22.
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