ASHLAND, Ore. – After combatting the severe February weather just to make today's matchup in Ashland, the Corban University Men's Basketball team's on-court struggles continued in their fifth-straight loss to fall to .500 on the year after suffering an 83-66 loss earlier tonight to Southern Oregon University, resulting in a series split between the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) foes for the fifth-consecutive season.

"It's obvious to see that we're struggling a bit right now, but we have exceptional guys who I'm confident will right the ship as we near the end of the regular season and turn towards postseason play. We will work hard to play better and go finish strong," explained Corban head coach Taylor Kelly following tonight's contest.

While the Navy and Gold (12-12, 10-8) were able to lock up the opening seven points of tonight's contest, a scoring dry spell midway through the first half allowed the Raiders (16-7, 11-6) to rack up a massive double-digit lead and led 42-28 at the halftime by forcing Corban into committing fouls and shooting free throws while the Warriors didn't have a single attempt in the opening 20 minutes played.

The offense only got hotter for Southern Oregon as the contest continued into the second half, with the Raiders ending tonight's game at just under 52% from the field while committing 15 personal fouls compared to 23 for Corban. SOU opened up a 20-point lead with 18 minutes to play and despite the Navy and Gold's best efforts to cut the deficit to below ten, couldn't muster up the scoring run they needed to snap their conference skid.

Four different Corban student-athletes scored in double-figures today, led by redshirt junior Andrew Classen who played a career-high 24 minutes with 11 points scored along with two steals. Senior guards RJ Veliz, Luc Krystkowiak, and Drayton Caoile all pitched in an additional ten points in the Warriors' road efforts.

A game-high 25 points by Raiders' guard Gabe Reichle allowed SOU to crusie to the double-digit victory on their home court, with guards Elijah Jackson and Mason Whittaker both adding an additional 15 and 14 points apiece, respectively. Forward Bryce Dyer dominated the boards with 13 rebounds to lead all players.

The Corban men's basketball team will travel north to Kirkland, Washington for their second matchup of the year with Northwest University (5-19, 4-14) and will battle the Eagles starting at 7:30pm next Friday.

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