BOX SCORE
NEWBERG, Ore. – Following a nine-day lay off for the Christmas holiday, Corban's men's basketball team returned to action in a much-anticipated rematch with NCAA Division III member George Fox on Monday night inside the Wheeler Sports Center.
Despite a team-high 22 points on 7-for-15 shooting from the field by sophomore
Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.), the Warriors fell to the Bruins, 80-74, as Martin extended his streak of 20-or-more points to six straight games.
Corban came out of the gate firing on all cylinders, as the Warriors grabbed an early 5-0 lead in the opening 74 seconds of the game following a pair of jumpers by sophomore
Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) and junior
Paul Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) along with a free throw by Clay Martin. Junior
Ben Potloff (Keizer, Ore.) would hand the Warriors another five-point lead (7-2) via a lay-up with 17:20 left in the first half. Unfortunately, Corban's lead would not last long as George Fox used a 10-0 run over a span of three minutes and five seconds and grabbed a five-point lead of its own (12-7) with 14:15 to go in the opening half. The host Bruins would continue to extend their lead to a game-high 11 points (33-22) following an Evan Atwater lay-in with just over three minutes left in the opening half. Freshman
Erik Cronrath (Battle Ground, Wash.) would pull the Warriors back within five points (35-30) via a lay-up with 70 seconds remaining before GFU's Atwater would close out the first half scoring via a free throw 13 seconds later for the half time margin of six points (36-30).
Paul Martin would help pull the Warriors within four points (40-36) thanks to back-to-back free throws within the first three minutes of the second half. George Fox would increase its lead to as much as 10 points (62-52) via a 22-16 run over a span of seven minutes and 27 seconds, as Bryan O'Connell converted an old-fashion three-point play with 10:29 left in the game. Just over one minute later, GFU's Jack Martin would hand the host Bruins another double-digit lead (66-56) via a pair of free throws with just over nine minutes left in the game. An 11-3 Corban run over the span of four minutes and 47 seconds would pull the Warriors within a mere two points (69-67) following a three-pointer by Paul Martin with 4:16 left in the contest. Corban would get within a mere bucket on three other occasions (72-70, 74-72, & 76-74) over the next four minutes and 18 seconds, but could not get any closer as Potloff would capped the Warriors' scoring thanks to a lay-in with 34 seconds remaining. George Fox would get a pair of free throws from Martin and Atwater over the final 25 seconds for the game's final margin of six points (80-74).
Despite Clay Martin's team-high in scoring, three other Warriors (Logan, Paul Martin, and Cronrath) scored in double figures with 19, 12, and 12 points respectively. Potloff closed out the Warriors' scoring with nine points, while Cronrath grabbed a game-high tying eight rebounds to go along with Potloff's team-high four assists.
George Fox was led by Atwater's game-high 23 points, while Martin and Alex Stockner added 17 and 14 points respectively. Martin would tie Cronrath's rebounding performance with eight to go along with his game-high 10 assists.
As a team, Corban shot 29-for-63 (46.0%) from the field that included a 5-for-20 (25.0%) showing from beyond the three-point line and an 11-for-19 (57.9%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, George Fox was 29-for-61 (47.5%) from the field that included 6-for-19 (31.6%) from long distance and 16-for-19 (84.2%) at the charity stripe.
With the loss, Corban falls to 4-8 overall compared to George Fox's 4-6 overall mark. The Warriors will return to Cascade Collegiate Conference action to open the New Year on Friday, January 2nd, when they travel south to Klamath Falls to take on the NAIA's No. 1-ranked Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Danny Miles Court.
