SALEM, Ore. – The Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers drained 14 three-pointers on Friday evening in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center en route to a comfortable win over the Corban University men's basketball team, 102-75. Case Rada began the game with three-straight shots from deep, and he never looked back as the Mountaineers won their second Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) contest of the year.
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On the night, Rada finished with a game-high 30 points, while Trell Washington totaled 20 points for the Mountaineers to go with a team-high nine boards.
Corban senior forward Cyrus Ward (Gig Harbor, Wash.) kept the Warriors in the game early with a number of crafty moves inside to score some buckets, but EOU had an answer for every Corban run that came its way, making a three-pointer or driving and scoring via a layup.
"We learned a painful lesson tonight about what happens when you don't show up ready to compete," said Corban head men's basketball coach Steve Masten. "Eastern was ready and we weren't. We will need to show up ready to compete against a really good C of I team if we want to have success tomorrow."
Corban trailed 44-29 at the half, and in the second stanza, the Mountaineers continued to pour it on, shooting 51.9% from downtown for the game while making 51.4% of their shots overall. Corban shot just 42.4% from the field on the night and made only six three-pointers.
For a while, Corban was scoreless from deep, but junior guard Caleb Herzberg (Beaverton, Ore.) sank a shot midway through the second stanza to make it 945-straight games for Corban with a three-pointer made. That three gave Corban some life, but again, the Mountaineers had the answer, finishing Corban off by 27 points.
Ward finished the night with 24 points on an efficient 9-for-16 showing, while sophomore guard AJ Monterossi (Beaverton, Ore.) scored 13 points and fellow sophomore guard Caleb Dozier (Beaverton, Ore.) tallied 12 points for the Warriors.
Another key for the Mountaineers was that they won the rebounding battle on the night, 47-30, creating a 19-7 advantage in second-chance points.
EOU (6-7, 2-1 CCC) heads south to take on Northwest Christian University tomorrow night in Eugene at 7:30 p.m., while Corban (5-4, 1-2 CCC) hosts No. 18 College of Idaho at 7:30 p.m.
