SALEM, Ore. – Led by a pair of transfer brothers who united at Corban University to play out the remainder of their collegiate basketball careers, the Warrior Men's Basketball team concluded the first half of their Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) slate in 2024-25 with a dominant 86-69 home victory over Northwest University, where the Navy and Gold opened up a massive second half lead to breeze to their ninth conference win of the season.

"I'm really happy with the way our guys put together two halves today," Corban head coach Taylor Kelly explained. "The game threw us natural ups and downs, but we were able to refocus and continue to attack together. I'm really excited for where we are at as a team and looking forward to how we can progress through the second half of the conference season."

The offense continued to shine for the Warriors (11-7, 9-3) from Friday into Saturday of this weekend's matchups with the Washington CCC programs visiting the Willamette Valley, with the Eagles (2-15, 1-10) struggling to find consistency throughout the second half in a contest where they kept themselves within striking distance during the opening thirty minutes of tonight's conference clash.

After pulling to within a nine-point margin at the 10:41 mark in the second half, Corban's offense awoke to outscore Northwest 19-2 over the next four minutes of gametime, where the Warriors hit five three-pointers over the course of their scoring spree to secure a massive 26-point lead with just over six minutes remaining.

While the Eagles' starters ended the contest on a 12-0 run against the Warriors' reserves to weaken their 29-point deficit to just 17 points via the 86-69 final score, the Navy and Gold had the last laugh by earning their eight-consecutive win over Northwest that dates back to the 2020-21 season. Corban wrapped up their Saturday night outing by shooting over 53% from the field and exactly 50% from beyond the three-point arc for one of their most electric weekends of scoring in recent memory.

The Krystkowiak brothers of Luc and Ben Krystkowiak were all over the court tonight for Coach Kelly and the Warriors, as senior guard Luc clocked in for another casual 16-point and seven-rebound performance in 20 minutes played, while sophomore guard Ben pitched in 13 points and converted on 4-of-5 attempts from distance. Junior guard Spivey Word was as effective as ever from the field by scoring a game-high 21 points, while senior guard Drayton Caoile dished out a game-high five assists alongside nine points and seven defensive boards off the bench.

Eagles' guards Trent Williams and Ethan Martin each scored 19 points to represent the team-high scoring marks and only Northwest players in double-figure scoring with seven field goals apiece, with forward Nash Wobrock added eight points and seven boards.

Corban men's basketball returns to action next week in the Portland area, where they'll battle Multnomah (11-6, 7-5) at 7:30pm on Friday to kick off the back half of conference play.

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