SALEM, Ore. – A game of inches played out on Tim Hills Court this evening and just narrowly swayed in the direction of the visiting team, as the Corban University Men's Basketball team wasn't able to keep ahold of their halftime lead against the RV Hustlin' Owls of Oregon Tech who were able to clinch a 65-61 victory to hand the Warriors their first loss in Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) play thus far this year.
"It hurts to not find a way to get it done on our home court," began Warriors' head coach Taylor Kelly. "OIT is a tough veteran team that has won a lot of games with their core players. We were good enough to win this game, we just needed to finish a few more possessions with defensive rebounds, stick a couple more free throws, and finish a few more shots we normally make. Our group is really tough and I'm excited about the progress we have made. There's no doubt in my mind we will learn from this and come back even better."
A back-and-forth first half by the Warriors (6-5, 4-1) and Hustlin' Owls (8-3, 4-1) was eventually clinched by the Navy and Gold after they were able to end the period on a 7-0 run, as senior guard RJ Veliz scooped in a layup in before sophomore guard Ben Krystkowiak splashed a three-pointer and his own layup on the next two possessions to provide Corban with a 33-24 halftime lead. The CCC's most efficient offense in OIT was held to just 24 first half points on 37% shooting when they average over 50% per game on the season.
Slowly but sure, Tech chipped away at the Warriors' lead that had bubbled to ten points at the 15-minute mark after senior guard Luc Krystkowiak hit a jumper for the 45-35 lead, yet the Owls would outscore the Navy and Gold 14-4 over the next seven minutes of action, completed with a deep three-pointer by guard Keegan Shivers.
With 5:46 remaining in the contest, guard Jamison Guerra gave OIT the lead with a fastbreak layup that they would never relinquish the remainder of the night, despite multiple comeback bid opportunities by the Warriors. On three separate occasions, Corban cut the lead to a single possession and had an opportunity to trail by two with nine seconds remaining after the eldest Krystkowiak converted a layup plus the foul, but was unable to hit the free throw and after Guerra split a pair at the charity stripe, the Owls stole the Warriors' inbound pass to hang on for their four-point road victory.
The high-flying Owl offense eventually settled for a 40% field goal percentage against one of the top two defenses in the CCC on a points per game basis, as the Warriors held OIT below their season average in both field goal percentage and total points while scoring on 42.4% of their own attempts. Each team was consistent in keeping their offenses in stride with only nine combined turnovers, while the offensive glass was massive for OIT, as they brought down nearly double that of Corban to provide their offense with numerous second chance opportunities.
Luc Krystkowiak once again led the Warriors with 16 points for the game-high mark, adding eight rebounds and swatting three blocks along the way, while Ben Krystkowiak was the only other Warrior in double-figure scoring with 11 points. Veliz dished out a game-high four assists with four boards and nine points as well.
Only six Oregon Tech student-athletes scored tonight with five of them in double figures, led by forward Jackson Cooper who hopped off the bench to secure a 16-point and 13-rebound double-double performance when they needed him most. Shivers shook off a rusty first half with 14 points and seven boards, while Guerra added 12 points and three dimes.
The Corban men's basketball rematch with I-5 rival Bushnell University (5-6, 1-4) is the next time the Warriors will take to the court following the Christmas break, as they'll travel to the Morse Center on Monday, December 30th for a 7:30pm tipoff.
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