GLENDALE, Ariz. – For over half of tonight's NAIA Opening Round matchup, the No. 16-seeded Corban University Men's Basketball team (20-11) had the No. 2-ranked team in the country on the ropes, and nearly pulled off one of the greatest First Round upsets in the history of the tournament, as the Warriors fell in the closing minutes to the No. 1-seeded Arizona Christian University Firestorm (25-5) after offensive fouls and questionable shot selections finally caught up to them in a 61-59 postseason defeat.
"Tonight was an absolute battle," Corban Head Coach Taylor Kelly started with sharing on his team's efforts today. "Our guys layed it on the line and were just a few plays away from taking the game from ACU on their home court. What an incredible group of guys we have, they represented Warrior Nation like champions all year long!"
The Warriors wasted no time showing that they deserved a trip to the NAIA National Tournament, as they controlled the top and two possessions later, junior guard Andrew Stafford splashed a deep corner three-pointer to score the first basket of the game and officially get us underway with the offense in the opening half.
ACU was able to score a pair of quick layups following Stafford's three, leading to a called timeout by Coach Kelly to make sure the Firestorm didn't get too out of hand on their home floor. Despite early foul trouble by Corban, the Navy and Gold remained resilient on the defensive end, holding Arizona Christian to just five field goals as we approached the midway point of the first half.
Junior guard Taylor Anderson was everywhere for the Warriors to open their First Round contest, dishing out assists left and right and hitting some clutch shots in transition. As the eight-minute mark drew near, Anderson found senior forward Darius Henderson on the wing for a deep jumper, stretching the Corban lead to 20-17.
Turnovers and missed field goals started to plague both teams as the halftime break loomed, as neither team could find the bottom of the basket for nearly two minutes until ACU finally converted on a layup attempt.
Offensive fouls were the difference in the first half, as the Warriors were charged with five of them compared to none for the hometown ACU squad. However, Coach Kelly had his squad stick to their gameplan they spent all weekend preparing for, and it paid off for the visiting team from Salem, as they gutted out the final two minutes of play by holding the Firestorm to just five points over the final five minutes and outscoring them by three to take a 31-30 lead against the No. 2-ranked team in the NAIA on their home court. The also benefited from a 50% mark from beyond the three-point arc, while ACU had yet to find the basket from deep.
Sharing the ball was key for Corban in the opening half, as nine different Warriors had scored points in the first 20 minutes of action, led by Anderson and Stafford who scored six apiece. Henderson was right behind them with four points and a game-high five rebounds thus far, while Anderson had four assists to be involved in over half the scoring plays.
Arizona Christian was held to one of their lowest scoring first halves of the season against the Warriors, with their only other colder starts to a game coming against then No. 2-ranked Grace College in the non-conference slate and their semifinal loss to OUAZ two weeks ago in the GSAC Tournament. The Firestorm were paced by forward Mikah Blackwell in the first half, who scored a then game-high 11 points on 4-for-5 field goals.
The Warriors kept their intensity as high as ever out of the locker room, scoring the first seven-points out of the break and forcing an early timeout from Arizona Christian, who continued to struggle finding their offensive identity through the first three minutes of the second half, subbing out two key starters almost immediately after play restarted.
Make it a double-digit deficit for the hometown Firestorm as the game carried on, with Corban's offensive streak stretching to 10-0 out of halftime and causing absolute fits for the ACU offense and defense. Causing turnovers and missed field goals on every possession of second half thus far, the Warriors had held one of the highest scoring offenses in the country to zero points for over six minutes, before Arizona Christian finally scored a layup attempt with 13 minutes remaining.
Even though the scoring drought was finally snapped by the Firestorm, Corban refused to let a major upset opportunity slip through their hands without a fight, as Stafford buried a three-pointer with a hand in his face followed by a baseline jumper from Anderson to take the lead back to 11 points, 46-35.
Arizona Christian slowly chipped away at the Corban lead, finally reaching single digits and even a single possession at 46-44 with under seven minutes to play. However, senior guard Mateo Escheik and Henderson were able to convert on their next two field goal attempts to keep the home team distanced on the scoreboard.
After a scoring drought of their own, the Warriors now found themselves trailing on the road, as two free throws gave ACU a 51-50 lead, and with it the momentum that Corban held for over 75% of the second half.
As the clock ticked under one minute remaining in the final half, the Warriors upset hopes grew dim in a game they once had all the control and momentum of, as Anderson found junior guard Dirk Helarie II with 45 seconds remaining and a 58-55 deficit for Corban. Both teams traded two-point possessions with seconds flying off the clock, the Navy and Gold now needing to force a turnover if they wanted one final shot to send this game to an overtime period.
After the Firestorm made it a two-possession game at 61-57, Anderson sped down the court and made the highest IQ play of the evening, as his defender, guard Angelo Johnson was draped all over him, so Anderson launched for a shot attempt and was easily fouled way beyond the three-point line to earn himself three shots from the charity stripe. He converted on the first two attempts with ease, but Coach Kelly called timeout before the third to discuss the gameplan with less than five seconds remaining in the game.
As drawn up in the huddle, Anderson intentionally missed his third attempt in hopes of retaining possession for a last second shot, and he managed to do just that on his own baseline with the clock nearing zero. Anderson hauled up one final baseline attempt to send tie the No. 2-ranked team on their home court, but his shot came up just short and into the hands of ACU, as the Firestorm were able to dribble out the remaining seconds in what would have been the upset of the tourney thus far.
Anderson put together one of his best performances of the season from a balanced point guard standpoint, scoring 12 points and dishing out a game-high nine assists to fall just one shy of a double-double. He also nabbed six rebounds off the weak side to push the offense, leading to a spectacular stat line for the Grants Pass native.
Henderson and Escheik both hang up the jerseys one final time with a 14-point, nine-rebound, and solo block performance for Henderson, while Escheik found four points and eight rebounds before he fouled out with less than a minute remaining.
The Firestorm scrapped together a second half comeback thanks to the heroics of Blackwell off the bench by scoring a game-high 17 points and hauling in five boards. Guard Dennis Flowers III followed with 16 points and four rebounds, hitting the only two three-pointers of the night for ACU that helped ignite the crown and spark the comeback on their home floor.
The Warriors end their season with a 20-11 overall record and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since the 2016-17 season. They will return 10 of 15 roster players for the 2023-24 season and will be itching for a return to the national tourney once again.
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