BOX SCORE

SALEM, Ore. – On a night when six seniors were honored in their final home game of the regular season, Corban's men's basketball team made history upsetting the NAIA's No. 1-ranked Oregon Tech, 90-79, Saturday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

Tonight's win marks the first-time ever that the Warriors have beaten a No. 1-ranked opponent at home. Another notch was etched in the history books as well with Corban's second win ever against a top-ranked opponent, as then-Western Baptist upset No. 1-ranked and undefeated Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls on January 28, 2003.

Corban ends the regular season at 18-12 overall and 10-8 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. The Warriors earned the CCC postseason tournament's No. 5-seed thanks to a tiebreaker with Southern Oregon, as Corban will head east to La Grande to take on Eastern Oregon in the opening round Wednesday. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech captured a share of the CCC's regular season title and the tournament's No. 1-seed finishing at 26-4 overall and 15-3 in league games.

Sophomore Jordan Carter would lead the way for Corban tying a career-high with 35 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field that included a 6-for-7 showing from beyond the three-point line and an 11-for-14 performance at the free throw line. Senior Erik Cronrath and junior Dustin Moore would also score in double figures with 19 and 10 points, respectively, while junior Jacob Kopra and senior James Green added eight and seven points, respectively. On the boards, Carter grabbed a team-high six rebounds to go along with a team-high tying two assists.

Coming out of the gate, Oregon Tech quickly built a 10-point lead as the Owls scored the game's opening ten points in a span of two-plus minutes. OIT would push its lead to a game-high 14 points (28-14) on an old-fashion three-point play by Scotty Riddle with 9:48 on the clock. Over the final nine-plus minutes, Corban used a closing 26-15 run to pull within three points (43-40) at halftime thanks to a pair of free throws by Carter that capped the scoring over the first twenty minutes.

The second half would begin with a see-saw battle over the opening 10-plus minutes that saw five ties and five lead changes. With the score knotted at 59-59 on an OIT free throw by Fred Corpening with 9:30 left, Corban used an 18-7 run that resulted in an 11-point lead (77-66) after back-to-back free throws by Kopra with just under three minutes left. Oregon Tech would pull within eight points (81-73) on a lay-in by Bobby Hunter with 1:35 on the clock, but clutch free throw shooting down the stretch by Corban would seal the deal as the host Warriors made 13-out-of-14 shots at the line over the final 2:12 to earn a 90-79 come-from-behind victory.

Four Oregon Tech players – Hunter, David Clarke, Riddle, and Jason Gamblin – scored in double figures with Hunter leading the way with 18 points. On the glass, Gamblin led a 42-rebound effort by OIT with a game-high 10 boards to go along with a four-assist night for Hunter. Oregon Tech owned a 42-to-22 advantage on the glass that included a 25-to-8 edge in offensive rebounds that led to 28 second-chance points.

As a team, Corban combined to shoot 25-for-45 (55.6%) from the field to go along with an 8-for-13 (61.5%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 32-for-40 (80.0%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Oregon Tech was 27-for-61 (44.3%) from the field, 7-for-24 (29.2%) from long distance, and 18-for-29 (62.1%) at the charity stripe.

Corban will return to action in the opening round of the CCC postseason tournament Wednesday, February 22nd, against the tournament's No. 4-seed Eastern Oregon beginning at 7:00 p.m. inside Quinn Coliseum in La Grande. Meanwhile, Oregon Tech will host No. 8-seed The College of Idaho at 7:00 p.m. on Danny Miles Court in Klamath Falls.