CALDWELL, Idaho – Another offensive slugfest from the top team in the NAIA resulted in an 84-63 loss for the RV Corban University Men's Basketball team (17-8, 13-6), who dropped their first road contest since beginning their four-game series last weekend on opposing courts, this time to the No. 1 College of Idaho Yotes (24-1, 19-0) who clinched the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Regular Season Championship earlier this week.

"Tough loss tonight," Warriors' Head Coach Taylor Kelly shared. "We didn't quite come out with enough fight to beat the Yotes on their home court. Looking forward to seeing our team bounce back against the Mounties tomorrow."

In a contest where nobody at the national level expected Corban to have a fighting chance, the Warriors proved they can hang with the No. 1 team in the NAIA early in this contest, as they seamlessly couldn't miss on the offensive end and were able to clean up their few misses with offensive boards to lead the Yotes 19-13 at the 12:14 mark of the first half. A 9-4 run by the Navy and Gold forced the issue with College of Idaho Head Coach Colby Blaine, who promptly called timeout to get his players reinvigorated.

Little by little, the Yotes chipped away at their home deficit, tying the game at 22-all not six minutes later following the Blaine called timeout. Corban was able to hang around for the next several minutes, but a late 7-0 run over the final three minutes of the half by C of I resulted in a double-digit lead for the hometown squad at the half, up 43-33 on the Navy and Gold.

The Warriors were led by a pair of big student-athletes with six or more points at the halftime break, specifically senior forward Darius Henderson with his eight points and three rebounds, followed by senior forward James Carlson's seven points and two boards. College of Idaho saw a single member in double-digits, guard Charles Elzie, who had 10 points and a pair of assists.

Corban was able to heal the first half damage momentarily by pulling within four points in the first two minutes of the second half, but Yotes' guard Johnny Radford quickly extinguished the fire under the Warriors' offense by hitting back-to-back three-pointers and stretch the lead back to double digits.

The College of Idaho was able to utilize their depth and home court advantage to take control of this contest for the remainder of the evening, as the Yotes rode their experience and multiple fouls on Corban student-athletes to a healthy 21-point victory at the J.A. Albertson Activities Center for their 24th-straight win.

Carlson and Henderson finished as the only double-digit scorers for Corban, scoring 13 and 10 points with four and five rebounds, respectively. Senior guard Mateo Escheik added six points, three boards, and a pair of steals.

The Yotes saw four different players in double-digits tonight, led by Elzie's game-high 15 points and four assists. Guard Drew Wyman and forward Tyler Robinett each tallied 14 points, while guard Samaje Morgan tacked on 10 points and a game-high six assists.

Corban Men's Basketball wraps up their conference road slate tomorrow evening at Eastern Oregon University (16-9, 13-6), looking to sweep the Mounties on the season and further cement their chances at a CCC Playoff host opportunity.

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