Kirsch-to-Kirsch Basket Gives CMS Men's Basketball 67-66 Win over Chicago

CLAREMONT, Calif. - Junior guard Mitchell Kirsch made a back cut and scored on a reverse lay-up off a feed from his older brother, senior forward Maxwell Kirsch, with seven seconds left, as the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team rallied from nine points down in the final minutes to earn a 67-66 win over the University of Chicago on Friday evening at Roberts Pavilion.

Senior guard Miles President had 16 points to lead the Stags, who improve to 6-2 on the season by pulling out a narrow victory after coming off a 13-day break for final exams. Chicago, which was led by 25 points from Cole Schmitz on 10-15 shooting, falls to 4-6 with the defeat. 

Maxwell Kirsch gave CMS its first lead of the second half with a three-pointer in the right corner off a President kickout with 51 seconds left at 65-64, capping a 12-3 run. The Maroons answered, though, with a 10-foot jumper from Brennan McDaniel from the left side of the paint with 32 seconds left to take the lead back 66-65.

Coming out of a timeout, the Stags worked the ball around the perimeter for the first 17 seconds of the shot clock, before Maxwell Kirsch got the ball above the right elbow. Mitchell then made a back cut from the right wing, with Maxwell hitting him in stride with a bounce pass. Mitchell was met by the help defense inside the paint, but maneuvered his way under the basket and connected on the reverse layup with seven seconds left as he fell to the floor.

The play was almost second nature for the two Kirsch brothers, who played together at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire before joining the CMS program one year apart. 

"That's something you go back to almost eight years ago now when we started playing at Phillips Exeter under Coach Tilton," Maxwell Kirsch said. "That's something we do all the time; it's natural to us."

"We came out of a timeout and I knew we were going to be taking a shot late in the shot clock," Mitchell Kirsch said. "So I whispered to Max, 'hey, if we're on the same side, let's do our thing.' It worked out today."  

The Maroons did not call timeout and pushed the ball immediately, hoping to take advantage of a potential 5-on-4 as Mitchell Kirsch got back to his feet and trailed the play. Chicago's dribble hand-off at the top of the key, though, was well-defended by the Stags, and the Maroons unable to get off a shot before the clock expired. 

CMS needed to rally in the final five minutes in order to set up the late drama. A Schmitz jumper gave Chicago its largest at 55-46 with 6:53 to go, before President answered with a three-pointer to cut it to six. The Maroons still held a 61-53 advantage with 4:30 left, when the Stags used a quick spurt to steal the momentum. Senior guard JD Levine found junior guard Chukwueloka Oti for a three-pointer from the left wing to cut the lead to five, and then Levine picked up a steal near midcourt and broke in alone for a fast-break layup to close to 61-58 with 4:12 left. 

President made two foul shots with 3:12 to go to close the deficit to 62-60, and after Chicago missed on four chances to extend its lead, President hit a short jumper in the paint to tie it 62-62 with 1:28 to go. Brandon Beckman gave the Maroons a 64-62 advantage with a lay-up with 1:10 left, but Maxwell Kirsch's three gave CMS the first of its two late leads, the second of which held as the final score. 

It was the defense before the late shots that was the key to the comeback, according to Maxwell Kirsch. 

"I think there was one point where we might have had five stops in a row," he said. "We call three stops in a row a "kill", and if we can get three stops in a row that really changes the momentum. We were able to dig in and get that, and that's all you need. Once you get that momentum, energy is contagious."

Senior forward Jeremy Horn joined President in double figures with 12 points, while Mitchell Kirsch finished with nine. Oti and senior Kele Mkpado had seven points apiece off the bench, as the CMS reserves outscored their Chicago counterparts 27-9. 

CMS will be back in action after the holiday break when it hosts two games before the new year, taking on Gustavus Adolphus on Sunday, Dec. 29 (6 p.m.) and Lake Forest on Monday, Dec. 30 (7 p.m.).