LA GRANDE, Ore. – For the first time since the 2004-05 season, Corban University's men's basketball team completed its Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) season sweep over Eastern Oregon University with an 83-73 victory Saturday afternoon inside Quinn Coliseum. Seventeen years ago, then-Western Baptist earned a pair of victories over the Mountaineers winning 110-108 in La Grande and 74-62 in Salem.

"This weekend was a massive step for our program," said first-year head coach Taylor Kelly. "EOU is a tough team, who is really hard to beat at home. Our guys were incredible today. We responded with a great defensive effort where everyone played a part and did their job. We continue to prove how much we love one another and how hard we are willing to fight for one another."

With today's result, Corban improves to 13-3 overall and 8-2 in CCC contests. With two conference games remaining in the regular season, the Navy and Gold are two games in front of Oregon Tech for the second half CCC title. Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon falls to 7-9 overall and 3-7 in conference games.

"I'm extremely proud of our group and all the strides we are making," added Kelly. "Go Warriors!"

Senior Denis Kirichenko led the Navy and Gold with a game-high 17 points off the bench on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting from the field. Meanwhile, four other Warriors – senior Jordan Newt, sophomore Kendall Moore, sophomore Mateo Escheik, and sophomore Josiah Roth – scored in double figures with 11, 11, 10, and 10 points, respectively.

Senior Mauricio Smith pulled down a game-high tying seven rebounds for Corban, while sophomore Taylor Anderson led the Navy and Gold with three assists.

Over the opening six minutes, Eastern Oregon built a 15-10 lead before Corban scored seven straight points to secure its second lead of the game (17-15) on a basket by Kirichenko with 12:39 on the clock. The Navy and Gold never relinquished the lead for the rest of the game, as the team slowly increased its lead to double digits (38-27) on a Kirichenko basket with just over one minute left in the first half. Eastern Oregon closed out the first half on a 4-0 run to pull within seven points (38-31) at halftime.

Within the first three minutes of the second half, Corban used an 11-2 run to secure a 16-point lead (49-33) on a Escheik bucket with 17:07 left. Exactly six minutes later, the Navy and Gold grabbed their largest lead of the game (65-44) on a three-pointer by sophomore Reece Van Lierop. Eastern Oregon pulled within single digits nearly seven minutes later, as the host Mountaineers put together a 22-9 run to get within eight points (74-66) on a four-point play by Zane Wright at the 4:27 mark. Corban quickly answered back with a 5-0 run to go ahead once again by double digits (79-66) on another Kirchenko basket with 2:52 left. The Navy and Gold never let go of its double-digit advantage for the remainder of the game, as the visiting Warriors earned the hard-fought 83-73 victory.

Eastern Oregon was led offensively by Paul Pennington with 15 points, while four other Mountaineers – Preston Chandler, Wright, Max McCullough, and Justin Jeske – scored in double figures with 14, 14, 10, and 10 points, respectively. For the second game in a row, the bulk of EOU's scoring came from its starting five as the bench provided a combined 25 points in two games this weekend against Corban.

On the boards, EOU was led by Chandler and Jeske with a game-high tying seven rebounds each. Pennington led all players with a game-high five assists, while Jeske registered a game-high four steals for EOU.

As a team, Corban combined to shoot 33-for-56 (58.9%) from the field that included a 60.7% (17-for-28) clip over the final 20 minutes. The Warriors were also a combined 8-for-18 (44.4%) from beyond the three-point line and 9-of-12 (75.0%) at the free throw line. On the other hand, Eastern Oregon was a combined 27-of-60 (45.0%) from the field, 6-of-29 (20.7%) from long distance, and 13-of-17 (76.5%) at the charity stripe.

Corban will close out the CCC regular season with a double header against Multnomah University starting on Sunday, May 2, beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Jim Skagen Court in Portland.

Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter  l Instagram l Snapchat l  YouTube l  Email

Download our App: iOS (iPhone/iPad) l Android