BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – Despite holding the fourth highest scoring team in the country below its season average, Corban's men's basketball team could not complete its second half comeback falling to the visiting Cavaliers of Concordia, 83-73, Saturday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Junior
Jordan Carter led Corban (6-10, 2-5 CCC) with a game-high 24 points that included 16 in the second half, as the third-year Warrior was 10-of-17 from the field to go along with four rebounds, two assists, and one steal. Carter was aided offensively by sophomore
Cyrus Ward with 15 points off the bench, as the freshman duo of
Toby Roth and
Caleb Herzberg chipped in with nine and eight points, respectively. On the boards, Ward grabbed a team-high nine rebounds with Roth handing out a game and career-high 13 assists.
For Concordia (14-4, 4-3 CCC), the CCC's Preseason Player of the Year Adam Herman provided a team-high 23 points that included a 12-for-13 performance at the free throw line. Herman was aided offensively by four other Cavaliers – Tyler Velasquez, Kory Kirwan, Anthony Holton, and Willy Ligon – that also scored in double figures with 13, 13, 11, and 11 points, respectively. For the first time all season, Herman registered a double-double thanks to 11 rebounds to go along with his team-high scoring output as Esvan Middleton led the Cavaliers with a game-high 12 boards and six assists.
The game would begin with Carter scoring on a driving lay-in 52 seconds after the opening tip before Concordia took control with a 7-0 run over a span of three minutes thanks to a free throw by Velasquez that put the visiting team up 7-2 with 16:21 on the clock. Concordia, who never looked back from that point on, would quickly extend its lead to double digits (24-6) after the Cavaliers pushed its run to 24-4 on a Middleton lay-in with just over 10 minutes left in the opening half. Corban would get as close as 12 points (26-14) following a lay-in by freshman
Ernst Kruger with exactly eight minutes remaining only to see Concordia close out the half on a 12-11 run for a difference of 13 points (38-25) at the break.
Over the opening six minutes of the second half, Concordia extended its lead to a game-high 20 points (52-32) with a 14-7 run on a Marquis Matthews free throw at the 14:22 mark. Not wanting to go into the night quietly, Corban used a 29-14 run over the next 10 minutes to pull within five points (66-61) on a jumper by Kruger with 4:38 left. The host Warriors would stay within single digits over the next four minutes, as a three-pointer by Carter with just under two minutes left made the score 72-66 in favor of Concordia. Unfortunately, Corban would not get any closer thanks to a combined 11-for-12 performance at the free throw line from Concordia's Velasquez and Herman over the final 95 seconds to seal the win for the visiting Cavaliers (83-73).
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 29-for-66 (43.9%) from the field that included a 6-for-27 (22.2%) performance from beyond the three-point line and a 9-for-16 (56.3%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Concordia was a combined 23-for-56 (41.1%) from the field, 3-of-16 (18.8%) from long distance, and 34-for-45 (75.6%) at the charity stripe.
Corban returns to the hardwood on Friday, January 17th, when the Warriors hit the road to take on the NAIA's No. 23-ranked Coyotes of The College of Idaho beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time) inside the J.A. Albertson Activities Center in Caldwell, Idaho.
