SALEM, Ore. – While receiving points from all but one player who entered the game on Friday night, the Corban University men's basketball team flew past Northwest University thanks to a 55-point second half, 97-79. The victory gives Corban the season sweep over Northwest and makes it four straight triumphs for the Warriors over the Eagles dating back to last year.
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"This was probably the best overall team win of the season," said Corban head coach Steve Masten. "We got great contributions from a lot of guys at both ends of the floor. Once we clamped down on their three-point shooters after half time, NU had a difficult time scoring. It was nice to be home after four road games and I think our shooting percentage reflected that."
Corban used a 15-2 run to start the game and looked to be well on its way to a blowout win, but the Eagles fought back with hot shooting from downtown in the first stanza, nailing nine three-pointers, including one at the first-half buzzer to tie the game at 42-42.
In the second stanza, Corban pulled in front early on, and late in the game thanks to some highlight-reel dunks from freshman forward Joel Johnson (Tigard, Ore.), the Warriors pushed in front and never looked back in the 18-point win.
Johnson finished with a double-double, totaling 14 points and 12 boards, while sophomore guard AJ Monterossi (Beaverton, Ore.) recorded 22 points and dished out a game-high seven assists. Also hitting the 20-point plateau was junior guard Caleb Herzberg (Beaverton, Ore.), as he nailed four long-range efforts and was perfect from the free-throw line, totaling 20 points with six assists. His best assist of the night came on the long alley-oop lob to Johnson for a late-game dunk.
Senior forward Cyrus Ward (Gig Harbor, Wash.) racked up 18 points and 11 rebounds in the win as well for Corban as the Warriors shot 56.1% from the floor and 42.9% from deep.
After the game, Johnson talked about the big win and his big night in a post-game interview:
For the Eagles, two players broke the 20-point barrier, as Zach Smith scored 24 points, hitting 6-of-7 three-pointers, while Dak Shagren totaled 23 points on a 9-for-16 shooting effort. As a team, Northwest shot 42.6% from the field, but only ended up scoring 37 points in the second half, resulting in the loss.
Corban (13-10, 7-8 CCC) returns to the court tomorrow night to take on The Evergreen State College at 7:30 p.m.
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