SALEM, Ore. – AJ Monterossi joined Corban's 1000-Point Club on Friday evening while leading the Warrior men's basketball team past The Evergreen State College, 84-70. It took a big second-half from the Warriors, as Corban outscored the Geoducks by 17 points in the pivotal second stanza.
Click 'Play Button' on photo above for video highlights from Corban's win.
"It was a great team performance tonight," said Corban head coach Austin Johnson. "Every guy that played had an impact on tonight's win. Our ball movement in the second half was much better and some shots started to fall."
In the first portion of the first half, things seemed to be going well for the Warriors while building a lead early on, but Evergreen closed the gap quickly and eventually overtook Corban late on in the first 20 minutes, with Shawn Spencer leading the way to give the Geoducks a 35-32 lead at the break. Evergreen shot 46.2% from the floor in the first stanza while locking down defensively, especially over the final 10 minutes of that first frame to hold Corban to just a 35.7% clip from the field.
In the second half, Corban came out firing, and with his first bucket of the game coming early on in the final 20 minutes, Monterossi became Corban's 29th player in men's basketball history to score 1000 or more points in a career. For Monterossi, the basket got him rolling, as he finished the contest with 11 points on a 4-for-8 shooting mark.
Corban's bench proved to be the key in the second half, and it was Caleb Dozier working down low to score some big baskets inside, and then from the outside, Mike Seng and Caleb Herzberg both nailed a trio of three-pointers, sparking Corban's second-half spurt to take command of the game late. Ultimately, it came down to the Warriors needing to make some important free-throws down the stretch while continuing to play solid defense, resulting in the key Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) triumph.
"Toby Roth, Caleb Dozier, and Mike Seng were huge off the bench, and Toby and Mike were keys during our second-half run," said Johnson. "I am proud of their efforts and am excited to go to battle with them tomorrow against a very good Northwest team."
Both Dozier and Seng finished the night with 14 points, while Herzberg's trio of three-pointers gave him nine points. Also off the bench with 14 points was Chris Martin, as he went just 2-of-6 from the floor, but he shot 9-for-10 from the charity stripe in the victory. Additionally, Joel Johnson grabbed a team-best 14 boards to go with eight points.
On the night, Corban shot 45.0% for the game while holding Evergreen to a 42.6% shooting mark.
For the Geoducks, Shawn Spencer scored a game-high 22 points on a 7-for-12 shooting effort, while Taylor Drey tallied 13 points for Evergreen in the defeat.
Corban (10-7, 3-4 CCC) is set to return to the hardwood tomorrow when it hosts Northwest University. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
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