SALEM, Ore. – A graduate student playing in his senior year of eligibility came through with the biggest shooting performance of his career in his 98th career game as a member of the Corban University Men's Basketball team. Senior guard Reece Van Lierop shot the lights out of the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center tonight to help tame the Multnomah Lions and hold them to their third lowest scoring game on the season.

"Really proud of how our team prepared and fought tonight," Corban head coach Taylor Kelly said after his program completed the first season sweep of the Portland conference schools since the 2021-22 season. "After an emotional and hard fought win in overtime last night, our guys came in today with a renewed focus. Reece was special and put together one of the best shooting halves I've ever seen. Jay put together another solid performance and Taylor allowed everyone to flourish with nine assists. I'm proud of our group and how hard we are competing and coming together."

After missing three of his first four three-point attempts for the Warriors (12-7, 9-5) in the opening half, Van Lierop returned to the floor with 10 minutes remaining until the halftime break and saw to it that his team would never trail again. An 18-17 lead by the Lions (8-12, 3-11) was erased in a matter of minutes as Van Lierop led the Navy and Gold on a 17-0 run that featured four shots from deep for the Spokane, Washington native that opened up a lengthy double-digit halftime lead at 48-27 for Corban.

Having never scored more than 20 points in a full 40 minute contest before in his career, Van Lierop had already done so in just 19 minutes within the first half of tonight's game, as he led all scorers at the break with 21 points and seven three-pointers made.

Everything that could have gone wrong for Multnomah tonight found a way to do so, as the Lions could never seem to find their momentum and stack more than two stops and scores on back-to-back possessions, which ultimately resulted in the nearly 30-point loss for the road team. The Lions' lone silver lining came in their ability to find second chance opportunities, as they outscored Corban 19-11 when hauling in an offensive board and thus resetting the offense.

Unfortunately for Multnomah, nothing seemed to slow down the Warriors and their blazing fast offense tonight, as the Navy and Gold shot an even 50% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc, inevitably leading to the 88-59 final score and keeping Corban's three-game winning streak alive.

In a head-to-head matchup of two of the best post players in the entire Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC), Warriors' junior forward Jay Wilson and Lions' forward Tyrese Taylor each entered tonight's game having just posted massive double-doubles in their previous contests and both looked to further cement themselves as one of the top big men on the west coast.

Wilson needed only 23 minutes to work Taylor into a foul-out scenario with just minutes remaining in the second half, as he outscored his Multnomah adversary by 11 points, hauled in more rebounds, and committed far less turnovers to make his case for a conference player of the week nomination. The 6'7 forward finished with 16 points and six rebounds, compared to just five points and five boards for Taylor.

Van Lierop completed the night with a career-high 29 points on 10-for-18 shooting with nine three-pointers on the day, setting all-time best marks in every field goal statistic possible and coming up just one make short of eclipsing the top three all-time list for three-pointers in a single game. Senior guard Collin Warmouth joined Van Lierop and Wilson as the only other Warriors in double-digit scoring, while senior guard Taylor Anderson tied his career-best assisting game with nine dimes in 28 minutes played alongside six rebounds.

Lions' guard Taylor Pomeroy was hot on Van Lierop's tail throughout the second half and nearly caught him for the game-high scoring mark, finishing with 25 points and seven three-pointers of his own and five rebounds. Forward Javier Turner rose to the occasion and complimented his shooting guards with a 12-point and 12-rebound performance in the paint for only his second double-double of the season.

The Navy and Gold will return to action next Friday on the road in Olympia, Washington, as The Evergreen State College Geoducks (3-15, 2-11) will host the Warriors for a 7:30pm tipoff at the Costantino Recreation Center.

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