Men's basketball falls on Senior Night

ORANGE, Calif. – Junior Luke Hamlin scored 26 points but the Chapman University men's basketball team fell 77-73 to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Tuesday at the Hutton Sports Center. The two teams will meet again in just a few days for the SCIAC Semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

With every other SCIAC game played earlier in the day, CMS clinched the No. 4 seed regardless of the outcome of its game at Chapman. On Saturday, Chapman clinched the outright conference title with a win at Caltech. Win or loss, Chapman knew it would be facing the Stags in Friday's semifinal.

However, it was hard to tell that the outcome of the game had no bearing on postseason positioning. The game was close throughout with 12 ties and 15 lead changes. Neither team led by more than seven at any point during the night.

Hamlin scored a game-high 26 points for the Panthers (18-6, 12-4 SCIAC) to go along with five rebounds, three assists and two steals while senior Davis Dragovich celebrated his Senior Night with 16 points, five boards and two blocks.

The Panthers looked to be taking a slight lead into the locker room but CMS' Jason Harrington drew a foul on his attempt at a long buzzer beater. He knocked down two of his three free throws to put CMS up 43-42 at the break.

Both teams we clicking on the offensive end of the floor as both shot over 50 percent on the night. The Stags shot 62.5 percent in the first half to Panthers' 57.1 percent. The shooting cooled off a bit in the second but not before the Panthers scored the first five points of the second half to regain the lead. Hamlin knocked down a three and Rob Nelsen followed it up with a layup to put the Panthers on top 47-43.

CMS battled back and the teams continued to trade leads. Sophomore James Taylor tied up the game at 72-72 with just over one minute to go when he knocked down the latter of two free throws. However, CMS' Jack Earley came down the floor and drained a long three-pointer as time wound down on the shot clock to put CMS up three. The Stags won the battle at the line down the stretch to maintain their lead and get the victory.

The two teams will meet again in just three days for the SCIAC Semifinal in the Hutton Sports Center. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. 

By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director

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