SALEM, Ore. – Despite not shooting the ball well on Monday evening, the Corban University men's basketball team took NCAA Division II opponent Hawaii Pacific University to the limit, only falling narrowly at the end, 81-73. The game was a counting game for Hawaii Pacific, but it was an exhibition contest for Corban, thus not counting as an official loss for the Warriors.

"I love how our guys competed for a full 40 minutes tonight," said Corban head coach Austin Johnson. "We didn't play perfect or pretty, but we played extremely hard and ultimately that's the most important thing I can ask of them."

Corban gained the early advantage thanks to some nice shooting from the outside, but the Warriors went cold in the later parts of the first half, and Hawaii Pacific caught fire, heading into the locker rooms with a 46-33 lead over Corban.

In the second half, the game was back and forth, but it was Andrew Evans with a pair of steals and three assists that sparked Corban's comeback, and the Warriors made it a one-possession game, but it was too little too late, and the Sharks made the necessary shots down the stretch to seal the win.

AJ Monterossi had himself a ballgame, scoring 22 points on a 10-for-16 shooting effort to go with three assists. In addition, Jake Love and Chris Martin both hit double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Big on the glass on the night was Christian Drayton, as he hauled in 13 boards to lead all players on the evening. Drayton also scored nine points and tallied four blocks.

"Each guy that played contributed and our bench had a ton of energy," said Johnson. "AJ Was special tonight and Christian controlled the glass in a major way. I would also like to point out that we don't claw back into the game without Andrew Evans. He was the spark off the bench when we needed it most."

For Hawaii Pacific (2-1), it was Niksha Federico with a game-high 26 points in the victory for the Sharks, while Jonathan Janssen tallied 18 points.

Corban shot just 22.2% from downtown, going 6-for-27 from deep in the defeat. The Warriors also went 7-for-13 at the charity stripe, and both of those numbers proved costly in the exhibition defeat.

Corban (1-2) returns to the hardwood on Friday for a game against Portland Bible College as a part of the PT Northwest Classic. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. on Friday evening.