LEWISTON, Idaho – A golden opportunity for the Corban University Men's Basketball program to earn a well-deserved revenge victory over their Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) mascot doppelgangers in Lewis-Clark State College to open up the 2025 CCC Tournament later today in northwestern Idaho. The Warrior-vs-Warrior matchup will represent one of four quarterfinal matchups to be played out across the conference, with semifinal rounds set to begin on Friday, February 28th.
To access the 2024-25 CCC Men's Basketball Tournament Championship page, click HERE.
The following schedule depicts the CCC Tournament Quarterfinal matchups, with the higher seed hosting each contest:
#8 Bushnell University at #1 College of Idaho
#7 Multnomah University at #2 Oregon Tech
#6 Corban University at #3 Lewis-Clark State College
#5 Eastern Oregon University at #4 Southern Oregon University
Despite losing their CCC-record winning streak in conference play earlier this season to Corban men's basketball, No. 4-ranked College of Idaho was able to replicate their regular season title for a fourth-consecutive season and enter the postseason on a 16-game winning streak. The 59-56 loss that the Warriors handed the Yotes in Caldwell last January broke a 57-game winning streak in conference contests dating back to the 2021-22 season for C of I, yet the Yotes would go on to sweep their remaining CCC matchups to remain atop the conference standings.
LC State (22-6, 17-5) and Corban men's basketball most recently met just this past Friday on Tim Hills Court, where a slight 10-0 run by the visiting Warriors midway through the second quarter allowed the receiving-votes squad to escape from Salem with an eight-point road victory and complete the season sweep of the host Warriors. This will represent the first postseason matchup between Lewis-Clark State and the Navy and Gold since the Lewiston Warriors became full-time members of the CCC back in the late 2010s, with LC State currently riding a four-game winning streak against Corban that dates back to the beginning of the 2023-24 season. However, in 2022-23, the Salem Warriors clinched a season sweep of Lewis-Clark State with a pair of double-digit victories both on the road and in the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Both Warrior programs are riding very different season-long potentials heading into postseason play, with LC State having dropped important matchups earlier in the season before finding their footing as the regular season grew to a close, while Corban exceeded expectations to begin conference play with a 10-3 record and climbing as high as second in the CCC standings before a five-game losing skid resulted in a four-seed drop to the No. 6-overall position.
As expected per the CCC coaches' poll expectations to start the conference season, Lewis-Clark State did accept season sweeps to the No. 1-seeded Yotes and No. 2-seeded Hustlin' Owls, yet an 89-78 home loss to the No. 8-seeded Beacons demonstrated that the Lewiston Warriors are indeed vulnerable, even on their home court. In similar fashion, the Salem Warriors did suffer a road loss to the Warner Pacific University Knights earlier this season who will watch the postseason play out from Portland this season, yet the previously unhealthy Corban squad that played in PDX expects to be at full strength entering tonight's quarterfinal matchup.
Following a red-hot start to conference play on their own defensive end of the court, the Navy and Gold saw some of their defensive prowess dip towards the end of the regular season, yet still enter the postseason ranked fourth in the CCC in scoring defense ahead the likes of both No. 2-seeded OIT and No. 5-seeded EOU by allowing on average 72.0 points per night, which is within a single point of both LC State and No. 4-seeded SOU. Additionally, the Warriors rank second in steals per game at 7.4, which leads every team seeded above them in the CCC tourney.
Finally, the turnover margin has leaned in favor of Corban men's basketball for nearly the entire season slate, as their +2.68 margin trails only No. 1-seeded C of I and the Lions of No. 7-seeded Multnomah. LC State ranks sixth in turnover margin behind the Navy and Gold.
On an individual basis, the visiting Warriors in tonight's postseason matchup are powered by an upperclassmen heavy rotation that features a pair of CCC top thirty scorers in junior guard Spivey Word and senior guard Luc Krystkowiak. Word leads Corban at 13.9 points per game, while Krystkowiak has developed into one of the Navy and Gold's most consistent scorers at 12.2 points per game, which both rank 15th and 22nd in the conference, respectively. Krystkowiak ranks 12th in rebounding at 6.1 boards per contest, while Word also averages 1.8 three-pointers made per game as the team's premiere shooter from distance.
Senior guard RJ Veliz took charge of the Corban offense to become the team's starting point guard and dish out on average 3.0 assists per game, which is the ninth best average within the conference in 2024-25. His assists-to-turnover ratio also ranks top 14 in the CCC at 2.3 overall.
Defensively for Corban men's basketball, Word has picked the pockets of nearly every opponent they've faced this past regular season, as he averages nearly 1.5 steals per contest which puts him in the top seven of defensive players within the conference. Finally, Corban senior forward Jared Franklin has stepped up to become the program's interior defender and average nearly a block per matchup, which currently places him at ninth in the CCC and sixth among postseason eligible student-athletes.
The final team standing atop the conference tournament will receive the conference's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament, which is slated to begin on March 14th and 15th with the First and Second Rounds being played out on campus sites. Should the regular season champion Yotes win the CCC tourney, the second automatic bid would go to the tournament runner-up. The final site of the national tournament will begin on March 20th and end on March 25th with a new NAIA champion being crowned.
Live video for tonight's quarterfinal matchup between the two Warrior squads will be made available HERE, with live stats available HERE, and audio only listed online HERE.
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