PORTLAND, Ore. – Trailing by 11 points midway through the first half, the Corban University Men's Basketball squad flipped a switch to prevent a second-straight Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) loss and second-consecutive losing result to Warner Pacific University, as the Warriors outscored the Knights by 19 over the remainder of their Thursday night matchup to pick up their first league win of the 2025-26 season and jump back above a .500 overall win percentage.
"A very big and significant first road conference win," explained Corban head coach Wayne Mendezona shortly after his first CCC victory as the Warriors' head coach. "Joe was incredible and really powered us with his athletic plays on both ends of the floor. We had great contribution from several of our guys including Tj, Payton, Anjay, and Oregon to name a few. Also, our freshman standout, Landon, had a huge game hitting key clutch shots at crucial moments in the game. It was a great and exciting with for our group!"
A porous shooting performance from the Navy and Gold (5-4, 1-1) over the first 15 minutes of regulation was put to rest after they strung together a 14-0 run to conclude the opening half, entering the halftime break with a 37-31 lead after trailing by double-digits and finding new defensive schemes to prevent the Knights (4-4, 0-1) from scoring a single point in a nearly five-minute stretch.
Yet another scoring run consisting of posterizing dunks and fastbreak transition layups stretched the Warriors' lead to 14 points and would eventually lead by 15 before WPU started to chip away at their home court deficit. With under five minutes to play, Warner Pac cut the Corban lead to just two possessions, but the foul-happy Knights (26 WPU fouls vs 13 Corban fouls) allowed the Navy and Gold to depart from PDX with the eight-point road victory.
A pair of double-double performances by redshirt junior center Tj Zimmermann (13 points, 13 rebounds) and redshirt senior guard Anjay Cortez (10 points, 10 rebounds) powered the Warriors both offensively and defensively to their midweek win against the Knights, while junior guard Joe Gould and freshman guard Landon Knox scored the two highest single-player point totals of the night with 18 and 16, respectively. Gould added nine rebounds and three assists, while Knox was 4-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from beyond the three-point arc.
Warner Pacific had a double-double outing of their own behind 15 points and ten rebounds from forward Jurrien Sparks in a complete game effort, while forward Terrin Dickey scored 15 points of his own. Both forward Josh Lincoln and guard Demir Conliffe chipped in 14 points apiece.
A rare non-conference contest with a conference opponent is next up on the Warriors' 2025-26 calendar, as they'll welcome the Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon University (4-3) to Salem on Friday, December 12th for a 5pm tipoff.
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