By Sebastián Abdón Ibarra, Sports Information Intern

The University of La Verne men's basketball team (1-5; 0-1) lost their SCIAC opener on Wednesday against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Stags (4-1; 1-0) 81-58. Paul Antonis was the leading scorer for the Leos with 13 points on 5-9 shooting, including 2-3 from beyond the arc. Antonis currently ranks fourth in SCIAC with an average of 17 points per game this season, and his 48.3% shooting from three puts him in sixth on the conference leader board.

The game was very tight through fifteen minutes of action in the first quarter as all six lead changes and three tie scores all occurred during this time. CMS held an early 8-2 lead, but the Leos took their first lead of the game after an Antonis three pointer with 16:09 left in the first half. Both teams traded buckets and the lead for the next 10 minutes until the Stags were able to pull away for the remainder of the game.

John Malone II was second on the team in scoring with nine points on 4-10 shooting from the field. Seth Shaw also had a nice game for the Leos with eight points on 4-10 shooting, eight rebounds and two assists.

The Leos will look to bounce back as they come back home to the Sports Science and Athletics Pavillion to take on Occidental College on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.