Box Score The University of Redlands men's basketball team captured its second Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championship in three years on Saturday evening, defeating Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, 76-64. In front of a strong contingent of Bulldog fans who made the trip to CMS for the game, the Maroon and Gray got phenomenal efforts from the entire squad en route to earning the 21st conference title in program history.
Redlands began the game on a 16-8 run, highlighted by three-point shots from senior guard Brian Kuklok (Poway, CA) and junior guard Ricky Peetz (Redlands, CA).
The Bulldogs and Stags traded bucket for bucket over the next several minutes, and with just over five minutes remaining in the half, junior forward Alex Rudd (St. Louis, MO) hit a midrange jumper to put Redlands up 27-20.
CMS then closed the half on an 11-2 run, taking a 31-29 lead into the locker room. The Stags were hot from beyond the arc during those first 20 minutes, draining seven shots from downtown. Redlands, however, kept pace with CMS thanks to its solid overall shooting mark of 46.2%.
Knowing it needed a big second-half performance out of everyone on the team, the U of R came out firing, making each of its first-three field-goal attempts and retaking the lead at 38-34.
At the 14:46 mark, junior guard Matt Calhoun (Clackamas, OR) made a leaning jump shot to put the Bulldogs up 40-36. On the night, Calhoun provided a tremendous all-around effort, scoring eight points, grabbing six boards and tallying one assist and one steal.
After another CMS offensive outburst, the Bulldogs recovered and cut the deficit to just two points when Rudd hit his second long-range shot of the night with 9:50 remaining in regulation.
Peetz then caught fire, knocking down a jumper and two-consecutive three-pointers to put the Bulldogs up 55-49 with eight minutes left on the clock. On the night, he finished with 13 points on an efficient 4-of-7 shooting performance.
Still a tight contest, Redlands senior forward Josiah Brensdal (Kent, WA) made a jumper and then senior guard Tristan Kirk (Redlands, CA) drained a shot from downtown, sending the Bulldog faithful into a frenzy. A couple of minutes later, with the shot clock winding down, Kirk hit another clutch jumper, extending the advantage to eight points, at 62-54 with just 3:41 remaining.
From there on out, it was a matter of making their free throws, and the Bulldogs did just that, sealing the victory and the regular-season SCIAC title.
Watch the post-game celebration here.
Brensdal led the Maroon and Gray with 16 points and nine boards while Kuklok registered an important 13 points and three rebounds. Additionally, Kirk tallied 12 points and Rudd brought his instant offense off the bench, scoring nine.
On the night, the Bulldogs took much better care of the basketball than the Stags, only turning the ball over on eight occasions, while CMS turned it over 16 times. Redlands also shot the ball at a much more efficient rate than the Stags, shooting 48.1% from the field compared to just 35.9% for CMS.
As the No. 1 seed in the SCIAC Postseason Tournament, the U of R (20-5, 15-1) will host the No. 4 seed on Friday, February 22 in a semifinal contest. Tipoff in Currier Gym is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
