LEWISTON, Idaho - The Corban University men's basketball team hung tough with the 13th-ranked Lewis-Clark State College NAIA Division I Warriors, but despite the solid all-around effort from Corban, the Warriors from Salem dropped the contest to the L-C State Warriors, 82-72.
"We showed a lot of grit tonight," said Corban head coach Steve Masten. "We didn't shoot the ball well, but we found a way to stay in the game. We did a great job of keeping them off the offensive boards. They were averaging 15 and only got two tonight. If we hit a few more shots, there could have been a difference outcome."
Lewis-Clark State used a solid all-around first half to build a lead and led by 10 points at the half, but Corban made a number of runs in the second stanza, cutting the deficit to as few as five points at one point during the second half. Ultimately, L-C State was able to hang on for the 10-point triumph.
Leading the way offensively for Corban was sophomore guard AJ Monterossi (Beaverton, Ore.) with 21 points on a 9-of-21 shooting effort. Additionally, Warrior senior forward Cyrus Ward added 17 points on a very efficient 8-for-11 effort from the field. Ward also grabbed a team-best seven boards on the night. Off the bench, junior guard Toby Roth (Silverton, Ore.) tallied 13 points (5-for-7) while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out a team-best four assists.
As a team, Corban won the rebounding battle, 34-32. From the field, Corban shot 45.6% overall while going just 4-of-22 from downtown and only 6-of-13 from the free-throw line. Lewis-Clark State made 55.6% of its shots on the night and went 10-of-19 from deep and 22-of-28 from the charity stripe, ultimately proving to be the difference.
Lewis-Clark State, a team that lost on the road to Washington State University by just seven points, was paced offensively by Cammie Lewis with 21 points, while Jacob Wiley scored 11 points and grabbed nine boards.
Corban (1-1) returns to the court tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the second game of the weekend to face off against the University of Montana-Western.
