BOX SCORE
EUGENE, Ore. – Senior
Dustin Moore hit a career-high eight three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high 25 points, but it was not enough as Corban's men's basketball team fell in a heart-breaker to New Hope Christian, 78-75, Saturday inside the Rexius Event Center.
With tonight's result, Corban falls to 8-13 overall and New Hope Christian improves to 7-17 on the season.
Along with Moore's career night, two other Warriors – senior
Jacob Kopra and freshman
Andrew Evans – scored in double figures with 16 and 11 points, respectively. Kopra would register a double-double with a game-high tying 12 rebounds, while senior
Geoffrey Martin handed out a team-high seven assists for the Warriors.
The game would begin with back-to-back runs by each team, as New Hope Christian took a 6-0 lead after the opening 78 seconds before Corban scored eight unanswered points en route to taking a two-point lead (8-6) on a jumper by Evans with 16:33 on the clock. After NHC's Tarance Glynn tied the game at 10-all, Corban got four straight free throws from Evans and Foster to take a 14-10 lead with 12:18 left. The visiting Warriors would continue to hold the lead increasing it too as much as five points (23-18) on a jumper in the paint by Evans with 10:13 remaining. Over the next five minutes, New Hope Christian would use a 9-4 run to tie the game at 27-all on a jumper by Forest Stolk in the paint with 5:38 on the clock. Corban would use a 14-5 run over the next four minutes to pull ahead by nine points (41-32) on a three-pointer by Moore with 70 seconds left. A pair of free throws by NHC's Austin Cardanoza would close out the first half scoring, as Corban held a seven-point advantage (41-34) at halftime.
New Hope Christian would begin the second half by scoring the first seven points on a pair of lay-ins by Stolk and a three-pointer by Cardanoza , as the host Deacons tied the game at 41-41 with 17:05 remaining. Corban would go back ahead by four points (45-41) on a three-pointer by Moore along with a free throw by senior
Marcus Butler with 15:36 left. A steal followed by a fast break dunk by Butler put the visiting Warriors ahead by six points (49-43) at the 13:54 mark before New Hope Christian scored six unanswered points to tie the game at 49-all on a jumper in the paint by Stolk with just over 12 minutes on the clock. Five straight points by Kopra would give Corban a 54-49 lead before New Hope Christian used another run to knot the game at 54-54 on a jumper in the paint by Glynn with 7:20 left. Over the next five minutes, neither team earned more than a four-point lead until the game was tied once again at 68-68 after back-to-back free throws by NHC's Stolk with 2:29 on the clock. Over the next 60 seconds, New Hope Christian would get a three-pointer from Drew Wiley and a jumper by Harley Turner en route to earning its largest lead (73-68) since the game's opening minutes. A pair of free throws by sophomore
Blake Purnell would bring Corban within three points (73-70) before NHC's Glynn knocked down two free throws with less than a minute left to go ahead 75-70. Kopra would bring the Warriors within three points (75-72) before Moore knocked down his final three-pointer of the night with 33 seconds left to tie the game at 75-all. After a timeout by New Hope Christian with 10.2 seconds left, the host Deacons got a three-pointer from Wiley with 4.2 seconds left to go ahead 78-75. After a timeout, a pass to midcourt, and another timeout, Corban had a chance to tie the game, but Kopra's game-tying attempt bounced off the back of the rim allowing New Hope Christian to capture the hard-fought victory by three points (78-75).
New Hope Christian, who was playing with only six players due to academic issues, were led by Glynn with 22 points and a game-high tying 12 rebounds off the bench with three other Deacons – Wiley, Stolk, and Turner – also scoring in double figures with 19, 16, and 14, respectively. On the boards, Glynn was aided by Wiley with 11 rebounds to go along with a game-high 11 assists by Cardanoza.
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 24-of-61 (39.3%) from the field that included a 13-of-33 (39.4%) performance from beyond the three-point line and a 14-of-18 (77.8%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, New Hope Christian was a combined 29-of-65 (44.6%) from the field, 7-of-25 (28.0%) from long distance, and 13-of-15 (86.7%) at the charity stripe.
Corban will return to the hardwood on Friday, February 1st, against the NAIA's No. 1-ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. inside Quinn Coliseum in La Grande.
