COLLEGE PLACE, Wash. – The entire bench saw playing time tonight in the Corban University Men's Basketball team's road victory over Walla Walla University, as nobody played more than 20 minutes of gametime in a complete team win that consisted of rhythmic ball movement to find the open man and shoot 47.8% in their 83-61 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) victory. The win this afternoon firmly keeps the Warriors within the top four programs of the conference entering a marquee matchup tomorrow night in northwestern Idaho.
"All road wins are good wins," began Warriors' head coach Taylor Kelly when asked to discuss his team's most recent victory. "I'm excited for how our guys competed, with everyone chipping in and playing a role in the victory which always feels good no matter who you play."
The host Wolves (2-11, 1-8) were able to hang around with the Warriors (9-6, 7-2) for the opening ten minutes of play and even led midway through the first half, yet a 14-2 run by Corban over the next three minutes of regulation provided the visiting team with their first double-digit lead of contest and never relinquished the lead for the remainder of the afternoon.
Every time Walla Walla would pick up even a little momentum after trailing by ten at the halftime break, the Navy and Gold punched right back with their own offensive outburst to keep the Wolves multiple possessions behind and following a 15-3 run in the second half that allowed Corban to pull away 60-40, Coach Kelly cleared his bench and allowed every student-athlete that dressed today in College Place to see court time throughout their convincing road victory.
Corban's leading offensive threat, junior guard Spivey Word, was his usual self this afternoon with a 7-for-12 field goal conversion rate to score a team-high 18 points while picking up four rebounds as well. Redshirt junior guard Nikola Milosevic tied his career-best scoring mark with 15 points off the bench for Coach Kelly, while sophomore guard Ben Krystkowiak, senior guard Drayton Caoile, and junior guard Payton Meyers all scored seven points apiece to represent just an iota of the 13 different Warriors to score in today's matchup.
Wolves' center Soren Dalan was the lone offensive threat for Walla Walla this afternoon, scoring a game-high 19 points with six boards and a steal, while guard Thomas Mestrov added ten points and five rebounds.
The Warriors look to secure their second NAIA Top 15 road victory in an eight-day span tomorrow evening, as they'll battle their mascot doppelgangers of No. 15-ranked Lewis-Clark State College (12-2, 7-1) at 6pm in the P1FCU Activity Center for the fan-voted CCC Game of the Week.
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