AJ Rohosy scored on a lob off an inbounds pass from Will Householter with 10 seconds left as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team earned a 72-71 win over Cal Lutheran in the SCIAC Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon at Gilbert Arena.
The win marks the second SCIAC title in a row for the Stags, both of which they won at Cal Lutheran, in addition to capturing an NCAA Regional title at Cal Lutheran as well a year ago, with wins over St. Thomas and Whitworth. CMS moves its record to 20-7 on the season, and the Stags will receive the SCIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament when selections are announced tomorrow.
Cal Lutheran falls to 22-5 and will likely receive an at-large bid, as will Redlands, which the Stags beat in the semifinals, as both Cal Lutheran and Redlands have computer rankings in the top 30.
CMS survived two potential game-winning shots from Redlands in the semifinals to win 89-87 on Friday night, and the same thing happened again in the championship. After Rohosy made his go-ahead basket, which gave him 28 points on the night, Cal Lutheran's Devon Lewis (6'2''-PG) drove into traffic and tried to win it with a driving lay-up which came off the rim, and Tommy Griffitts (6'7''-F) had a tip-in attempt that also didn't fall as the horn sounded, giving CMS yet another dramatic postseason win.
A year ago, CMS won a 74-71 semifinal over Pomona-Pitzer when the Sagehens missed a tying three-point attempt at the buzzer. Against Whitworth in the regional finals, the Pirates missed two winning three-pointers in a 69-67 Stag victory.
Lewis had back-to-back baskets to put Cal Lutheran ahead 71-68 with 36 seconds left, but Rohosy converted a lay-up with 24 seconds left to make it a one-point game. Matt Meredith (6'7''-F) then came up with a huge steal to give CMS the ball, and after a 30-second timeout, the Stags executed a baseline out-of-bounds play to perfection, with Householter throwing a lob to the front of the rim and Rohosy catching and shooting in one motion for the game-winning basket.
CMS trailed by 12 in the first half, before closing to one at the break, and then led by 10 in the second half, before the Kingsmen stormed back. With the score 50-49, five different players scored in an 10-1 run, as Householter made a jumper, Rohosy had a tip-in, Reid Jones (6'2''-G) had a fast-break lay-up, James Frye scored off a Householter feed, and Cahal Connolly had a tip-in to make it 60-50 with 9:22 to go.
Cal Lutheran responded with a 10-0 run to tie it 60-60 with 5:18 to go on a three-pointer by Ze'ev Remer (6'0''-PG),, and after Rohosy stopped the run with two foul shots, Lewis hit a three-pointer to give the Kingsmen the lead with 4:48 left, setting up the dramatic finish.
Rohosy shot 13-16 from the floor on his way to 28 points, while also pulling down 11 rebounds for a double-double. Reid Jones also had a double-double with 15 points nad 10 rebounds, while Householter had 13 points and the game-winning assist. Lewis was the only player in double figures for Cal Lutheran with his 35 points, which came on 11-21 shooting, 6-10 from three, and 7-10 at the line.

Courtesy of thesciac.org

SCIAC Final:
California Lutheran - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 71-72
SCIAC Semifinals:
California Lutheran - Whittier 90-89
Redlands - Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 87-89
SCIAC Quarterfinals:
Whittier - Pomona-Pitzer 79-68