Angle Scores 30 to Lead CMS Men's Basketball into NCAA Regional Final

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Senior guard Josh Angle scored 30 points on 12-18 shooting, moving into third place on the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball all-time scoring list (1607) as the Stags earned a 78-71 NCAA Division III Opening Round win over St. Thomas (Texas) on Friday afternoon at Cal Lutheran.

Caelan Jones added 20 points for CMS, which improves to 21-6 on the season and advances to the NCAA Regional Finals tomorrow. St. Thomas sees its season end at 20-7 with the loss. 

Angle came into the day with 1577 career points, No. 5 in CMS history, standing 19 shy of Tyler Gaffaney (2011-15) in fourth (1596) and 20 shy of Kevin Zitar (1992-96) in third (1597), and jumped over both spots into third all-time with his 30-point effort. He also knocked down six three-pointers, increasing his career record with the Stags to 232, 10 more than the old mark held by Bob Donlan (1998-2002). 

Angle made four of his three-pointers, along with another one from Matt Meredith, in a 15-0 first-half run that turned a 23-18 deficit into a 33-23 lead. CMS maintained a 37-29 lead into the break, but St. Thomas was able to regroup at intermission and surge back in front 48-47 on a three-pointer from Nick Anderson. 

Angle answered with a jumper and Jones knocked down a three-pointer to put CMS back up 52-48 with 12:24 to go. St. Thomas got back within 57-55 with 9:01 left, before CMS used a 7-0 run to get some separation. Angle started with a jumper, then fed Jones for a lay-up before Jones knocked down a three-pointer to stretch the lead to nine with 6:33 to play. 

St. Thomas cut the lead back down to 65-61 with 3:02 to go on an Anderson three-pointer, but Will Householter hit two foul shots, Meredith made a lay-up off an Angle feed, and Angle knocked down his sixth three-pointer of the game to make it an 11-point lead with 1:33 to go. 

The Celts refused to quick and got within 72-69 in the final minute, but Householter knocked down his final six foul shots, after the front end of a one-and-one spun out on him, to finish 10-11 from the line and help seal it, after he also went 6-6 from the line on his last six attempts in the SCIAC Championship game last weekend. 

Meredith finished with nine points and five rebounds off the bench for CMS. Anderson matched Angle for game-high honors with 30 points for the Celts on 10-18 shooting. 

CMS will be back in the regional final tomorrow for the first time since its last NCAA appearance in 2018, when it fell to No. 1 Whitman in overtime after beating No. 2 Whitworth. The Stags will meet either Whitworth or Cal Lutheran, which meet in the second semifinal this evening.