PORTLAND, Ore. – Sophomores Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) and Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) scored 14 points each to go along with junior Ben Potloff's (Keizer, Ore.) 13-point performance, as Corban's men's basketball team opened the regular season with a loss to Lewis & Clark, 94-62, Saturday inside Pamplin Sports Center.
After playing a pair of exhibition contests against NCAA Division II opponents, Corban officially took the court to open its '08-09 season against the Pioneers of Lewis & Clark College.
Despite falling behind 5-0 after the opening 79 seconds, the Warriors fought back to take a three-point lead (8-5) via an 8-0 run that included a pair of lay-ins by Logan to go along with a lay-in by Martin and another lay-in by freshman Erik Cronrath (Battle Ground, Wash.) with 16:43 remaining in the opening half. After a jumper by Lewis & Clark's James Edwards returned the lead to the host Pioneers, Martin hit a jumper with 14:10 showing on the clock for the Warriors' final lead of the game (10-9). An 8-0 LCC run would hand the host Pioneers a seven-point advantage (17-10) that they would extend to as much as 19 points (43-24) following a lay-up by Josh Kollasch with 1:38 on the first half clock. A free throw by Potloff with 87 seconds remaining would cap the opening half scoring and leave the Warriors in an 18-point deficit (43-25) at halftime.
In the second half, Corban used an opening 8-2 run to cut the Pioneers' advantage to 12 points (45-33) a mere 65 seconds into the final period. Unfortunately, a 13-0 Lewis & Clark run over a span of two minutes and 58 seconds would seal the Warriors' fate as the host Pioneers grabbed a 25-point lead (58-33) with 15:57 remaining in the game. Corban could only get as close as 18 points (74-56), as junior Paul Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) connected on a three-pointer with 7:26 on the clock. Over the final seven-plus minutes, Lewis & Clark used a 20-8 run for the final margin of 32 points (94-62).
Besides the aforementioned trio's point effort, Cronrath added 11 points in his collegiate debut to go along with Paul Martin's five-point effort. The Martin brothers -- Paul and Clay -- led the Warriors with seven rebounds each, while four other Corban players -- Potloff, Logan, sophomore Bryan Martin (Salem, Ore.), and sophomore Solomon Simmers (Bellingham, Wash.) -- grabbed four rebounds each. A trio of Warriors -- Paul, Clay, and Bryan Martin -- each registered a team-high two assists, while Logan recorded Corban's lone block of the night.
Lewis & Clark was led by David Berggren's game-high 20 points, while James Hollins and a pair of Pioneers -- Tyson Papenfuss and Kollasch -- added 15 and 12 points respectively. On the boards, Hollins pulled down a game-high eight rebounds for the Pioneers to go along with P.J. Taylor and Edwards' game-high tying three assists each.
As a team, Corban shot 23-for-52 (44.2%) from the field, while registering a 4-for-14 (28.6%) performance from beyond the three-point line and 12-for-16 (75.0%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Lewis & Clark shot 35-for-73 (47.9%) from the field for the game to go along with a 13-for-42 (31.0%) showing from three-point land and an 11-for-15 (73.3%) performance from the charity stripe.
With the loss, Corban opens the season at 0-1 compared to Lewis & Clark's 1-0 record this season. The Warriors will officially open their home schedule on Thursday, November 20th, against the Loggers of Puget Sound beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
