KIRKLAND, Wash. – The Corban University men's basketball team built a big lead in the first half and early into the second half, but the Northwest University Eagles stormed back to claim a late victory over the Warriors on Friday night, 90-86.
"Northwest made the plays down the stretch on both sides of the ball and earned the win," said Corban head coach Austin Johnson. "We'll have to bounce back and give a great effort for a full 40 minutes tomorrow to have success."
The Warriors got things rolling quickly on Friday night against Northwest, nailing a number of three-pointers all over the floor, draining six in the first 20 minutes while shooting 55.17% on all of their field-goal attempts, building a 13-point lead by the break.
Things started out well for Corban in the second half also, as Caleb Herzberg drained a shot from downtown, and not long after, Joel Johnson converted on a free-throw opportunity to make it an 18-point advantage.
The Eagles tried to chip away over the next several minutes, but even by the 12:27 mark when Joel Johnson threw down a dunk, the Warriors still led by 17 points.
Northwest then went on a rampant run and closed the gap quickly, nabbing a number of steals and finishing with easy layups en route to eventually taking the lead with two minutes remaining in regulation.
Down the stretch, it became a free-throw game in which Corban was forced to foul. After Chris Martin drove and scored a layup with nine seconds remaining to cut the lead to three, Jeremiah Harris then came up with the key steal on a long pass and fed the ball back to Martin. Martin's shot missed, but it went straight to AJ Monterossi who had a good look at the hoop from beyond the arc, but his shot just missed its mark, resulting in the eventual four-point defeat.
The Warriors committed 15 turnovers on the night, resulting in a number of easy buckets for the Eagles. Northwest ended up shooting 50.8% from the floor, while Corban hit just 42.9% of its shots by the time the game was finished.
Dak Shagren finished the game with 26 points to lead the Eagles, while Chris Martin totaled a team-best 20 points for the Warriors. In addition, Joel Johnson added 17 points for the Navy and Gold.
Corban (14-11, 7-8 CCC) returns to the court tomorrow night when it takes on The Evergreen State College in Olympia. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.
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