SALEM, Ore. – After falling from second to third in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) last weekend, the RV Corban University Men's Basketball team (12-4, 8-2) wasted zero time in reclaiming their top two position in the conference, as they held the RV Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers (11-5, 8-2) to their lowest point total of the season in a single game via a 67-53 final score in favor of the Warriors.
"I'm really thankful for the maturity, togetherness, and commitment to put our brotherhood above any individual," Warriors' Head Coach Taylor Kelly shared when asked about his team's performance tonight.
"This week was one of breakthrough for our program, and tonight was just a demonstration of a group of guys who are willing to fight for one another. This was our best defensive effort of the year against a team that has been as hot a shooting team as anyone in the country," Kelly explained further.
"Our guys were locked in and did a great job, I'm so proud of the men they are. Warrior Nation should be proud of them as well. We need everyone's help tomorrow night when we host the Yotes," Coach Kelly boasted for their biggest game of the season set tomorrow night.
As the theme as shown throughout the first half of the 2022-23 season thus far, the Warriors decided they were going to let this game be decided on the defensive end of the court, as both squads combined for 24 points through the first 10 minutes in the low scoring affair.
While the two groups of starters fought tooth and nail for a majority of the opening half, the Corban reserves provided the spark necessary for the Warriors to jump out to a 24-16 lead with five minutes remaining in the half, a margin of which seemed massive considering how difficult it was to find points thus far.
However, the Mountaineers finally found some consistency with their offense down the first half stretch, scoring six-straight points in less than a minute to pull within a single basket after trailing by multiple possessions for a majority of the opening half. EOU even took a short-lived lead with less than a minute remaining on a jumper from guard Phillip Malatare yet trailed by a single point at the halftime break thanks to a layup with three seconds remaining from Warriors' senior forward James Carlson.
Both Malatare and Carlson led their respective squads with 11 first half points each, with the EOU leading scorer tallying seven rebounds as well. While the Mountaineers were able to hit 50% of their field goals in the first 20 minutes of action, nine turnovers provided the Warriors with the ample opportunities to keep themselves in this contest.
The Warriors never relinquished their advantage throughout the second half this evening, holding a five-point lead for nearly half the period before Corban reached a double-digit lead for the first time this evening at the 8:32 mark. After the Mounties pulled to within four points, senior guard Mateo Escheik and junior guard Collin Warmouth led a brigade of breakaway layups to jump out to their 50-39 lead, with the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center rumbling for more.
Eastern Oregon immediately hit a three-pointer to quiet the crowd, but following an EOU timeout, the Warriors expanded their lead to 15 points and started to settle into their home court advantage with less than five minutes remaining in the contest.
As the final few possessions played out, Warmouth threw an exclamation point on a dominate second half by slamming down points number 66 and 67 on a breakaway dunk found by Escheik, thus concluding Corban's impressive victory, and ending the Mounties' six-game CCC win streak.
Escheik rebounded in the second half after finding himself in first half foul trouble to score a team-high 16 points, adding a trio of rebounds along the way. Carlson posted his most impressive outing of the season against a physically demanding EOU frontcourt by scoring 15 points and hauling in six rebounds, while swatting a pair of Mountaineer shots into the bleachers.
Malatare's hot first half kept Eastern Oregon in this contest for a majority of the game, but as his field goal percentage fell, so did the EOU win probability, as his double-double of a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds couldn't lead the Mounties to a pivotal road conference victory. Guards Malachi Afework and Preston Chandler tallied 14 and 11 points, respectively, while the later added six boards, four of which were on the offensive glass.
Tomorrow evening, the RV Warriors will host the No. 1 team in the NAIA, as The College of Idaho Yotes (15-1, 10-0) travel to the City on a Hill with the entire nation tuning in to see what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object at 5pm PST. You can purchase tickets ahead of time by clicking HERE and selecting your game of choice.
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