PORTLAND, Ore. – The entire first half was needed as a warmup period for the Corban University Men's Basketball program tonight on the road against Warner Pacific University, as the Warriors scored just 26 first half points and trailed at the break yet managed to still secure a 73-61 victory to sweep the Portland schools on conference opening weekend.

"I'm really proud of the way our guys regrouped at half time and responded in the second half," head coach Taylor Kelly shared earlier this evening. We were a little sped up and discombobulated in the first. We had a great halftime, and the guys came out focused and really executed to put together a nice second half of basketball. This group is starting to find its form and I'm really excited about how we are coming together."

The Warriors (4-2, 2-0) trailed for the entire first half in an opening twenty minutes of very little offense on both sides of the court, as the Knights (2-6, 0-3) couldn't string together many runs and led by only three points at the halftime break.

However, everything started to fall in Corban's favor from the very first possession of the second half, as the Warriors exploded out of the locker room on a 22-0 run, with a huge three-pointer by senior guard Reece Van Lierop that forced the Knights to take a timeout just two and a half minutes into the period, and never looked back in the process. Warner Pacific didn't find their first points in the second half until the 11:54 mark, as the damage had already been done and the Navy and Gold were able to kick on the cruise control en route to a 73-61 road win.

Corban dominated the paint (30-18) and had 31 more points off their bench that Warner Pac, as the Knights dropped their sixth-straight matchup and fell to 0-3 in conference play on the season. Meanwhile, the Warriors secured their third-consecutive win and will ride that momentum into their first home conference contest next week.

Warriors' junior guard Aundree Polk came off the bench once again to represent the team's leading scorer with 14 points in front of his hometown fans for the second-straight night, adding eight rebounds and six assists in the process. Senior guard Taylor Anderson was a point off Polk with 13 of his own and four boards, while Van Lierop and junior forward Devean Hinton each added nine points apiece.

Warner Pacific had three student-athletes in double-digits this evening, led by guard Matt Solomon and his game-high 16 points. Forward Caleb Tyree-Morgan tallied 15 points, while guard Colton Gorski connected on four field goals and a free throw for ten points.

The Navy and Gold return home to Tim Hills Court next weekend in a single Friday matchup with I-5 rival Bushnell University that has a 7:30pm scheduled tipoff.

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