ORANGE, Calif. – In an early SCIAC showdown, the Chapman University men's basketball team handed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps its first conference loss in a 73-68 battle on Saturday night at the Hutton Sports Center.

With Saturday's victory over the Stags, the Panthers tied the men's basketball school best record of a 12-0 start dating back to the 1937-38 season. Chapman has now won 17 regular season games in a row dating back to last season. 

The Stags who are the defending regular season SCIAC Champions were competitive with Chapman throughout the first half taking the lead 8-5 five minutes into the game. However, senior G Jordan Young hit back-to-back three's at the 10 minute mark to break the tie and give the Panther's an 18-12 lead. Chapman entered the half leading 28-25.

Claremont tied up the game twice in the second half but was unable to hold its lead for long. Chapman went on a 12-2 run at the 3:32 mark to take the Panthers largest lead of the game 60-50. Claremont G Tyler Gaffaney narrowed the Panther's lead with back-to-back three pointers in the last minute of the game but the Stags fell short. Gaffaney recorded a game-high of 29 points and eight assists for Claremont. 

The Panther offense was led by senior G Colin Zavrsnick who had a team-high of 18 points, while brothers Justin Young and Jordan both recorded 13 points.

The first-place Panthers (3-0 SCIAC, 12-0 overall) will host Pomona-Pitzer (0-2 SCIAC, 2-9 overall) at the Hutton Sports Center on Tuesday, January 13 at 7:30 p.m. 

by Raquel Rinauro
Sports Information Assistant

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