With a chance to grab a share of first place in the SCIAC standings, the University of La Verne battled conference leader Claremont-Mudd-Scripps through much of the first half, but the visiting Stags controlled much of the final 20 minutes to earn a 68-55 win over the Leopards Wednesday night at Frantz Athletic Court.
CMS shot 62.5% in the second half to improve to 10-6 overall and 6-0 in conference play. The Leopards saw their four-game win streak come to an end in falling to 9-8 and 4-2, respectively.
The Stags started strong, scoring the game's first 10 points while La Verne missed its first six field goal attempts. Austin Napolitano's jumper with 15:57 remaining was the Leopards' first field goal of the contest.
The Leopards began to cut into the CMS lead and eventually got within two points on multiple occassions but were never able to pull even as the first half came to a close. Both teams struggled offensively in the opening half, with La Verne making just 29.6% (8-27) of its shots compared to 32.1% (9-28) for the Stags.
Trailing 20-18 at halftime, the Leopards began the second half much like the first, scoring just four points through the first 6:30 after intermission to find themselves trailing 32-22 with 14 minutes remaining to play.
A pair of free throws from Napolitano cut the lead to eight points at 36-28 with 10:37 left to play, but the Stags responded by scoring seven unanswered points seize a 43-28 advantage at the nine-minute mark.
CMS led by as many as 18 points at 50-32 with 4:55 remaining and held a 55-38 lead with 2:27 left before the Leopards went on a 15-6 run in the final minutes to close the gap to 61-53 with 33 seconds to play.
CMS held the Leopards to 36.2% shooting from the field and earned a prohibitive 38-26 advantage in rebounding.
Patrick Lacey led the Stags with team-highs of 14 points and 7 rebounds. Remy Pinson added 13 points.
Trevor Woodland led La Verne in scoring with a game-high 16 points, finishing the night 6-of-18 from the field including a 4-of-10 effort from three-point range. Napolitano added 12 points to go along with 6 rebounds.
La Verne will return to the road on Saturday to face Pomona-Pitzer to conclude the first round of SCIAC play. The game is scheduled to tip at 7:00 pm.
