LA GRANDE, Ore. – For the second, yet not final, time in the 2025-26 season, the Corban University Men's Basketball team met face-to-face with RV Eastern Oregon University, this time in Quinn Coliseum as two Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) foes played out a non-conference contest in December on Tim Hills Court and still have one to be played in Salem later next month in a rare three-game series. After dropping their first matchup in overtime, the Warriors dug deep and evened the series at one game apiece following a 66-60 final score to pick up a massive road upset over the Mounties who had just jumped into the receiving-votes category of the NAIA Men's Basketball National Coaches' Poll.
"This was a tremendous conference win on the road against Eastern, one of the top teams in our region," expressed Warriors' head coach Wayne Mendezona shortly after his team's impressive road outing. "Our guys persevered even though we shot in the 40-percentile from the free throw line. Collectively as a team, we held EOU to zero threes in the second half. And when we needed to make our free throws down the stretch, we did. Oreon set the tone getting to the basket and making some great finishes. Joe and Tj anchored our team again on both sides of the floor. Anjay had some remarkable minutes on both ends of the floor. Other contributions with Tashawn and CJ on the defensive end and Tashawn hitting a couple clutch buckets down the stretch. But the shot heard around the world, was from Landon who really put us over the top hitting that big three at a crucial time in the game and it turned the tide big time. He's got big-time guts courage and a clutch mindset to hit the big shots. We're so proud of this young man because he means so much to our program. We're very blessed and thankful to the Lord for allowing this great victory!"
The Navy and Gold (8-9, 3-6) quickly rebounded from a home loss last weekend to shock the entire CCC on the road, as they fell behind 5-0 in the opening minutes to the Mountaineers (12-5, 7-2) yet trailed in the first half for only the first five minutes, flipping the scoreboard in their favor and leading by as many as nine points before EOU closed the gap prior to the halftime break. Eastern Oregon converted on their final field goal of the first half to trail 31-29 to the Warriors, with Corban providing the CCC leaders with headaches on their own offensive end of the court.
Both programs exchanged leads throughout the second half and seven minutes remaining, the Mountaineers claimed a five-point lead and looked to take all the momentum in front of a packed Quinn Coliseum. However, following a shot clock expiration with a ten-minute long review process and eventual turnover to Corban, freshman guard Landon Knox struck gold from deep at three-point range on what would be his only field goal of the contest, which sparked a 12-0 run by the Warriors to stun Eastern Oregon and their fan base.
The Dubs converted the free throws they needed down the stretch to clinch one of the best upsets across the country and one of their greatest since they downed a top ten opponent in non-conference action. This was by far the most well-rounded effort by the Navy and Gold to date this season when comparing combined offensive and defensive efforts, as they shot over 50% from the floor on the offensive end while holding Eastern Oregon to under 33% and 22% from beyond the three-point arc despite playing on EOU's home court.
Redshirt junior center Tj Zimmermann continued his tear through the Pacific Northwest with 18 more points tonight, converting on 8-of-12 field goal attempts combined with five rebounds and three steals. Graduate student forward Oreon Courtney pitched in 16 more points and was 8-for-10 from the field, who also picked three pockets and hauled in four boards. Finally, junior guard Joe Gould came through in clutch moments time and time again, ending his night with 11 points, seven rebounds, and a game-high four assists offensively.
Four Mounties were in double-figure scoring, led by guard Isaiah Jones who came off the bench to drop a team-best 15 points. Guard Logan Orchard scored 11 points and had four steals, while forward Keilan Torkornoo had a near double-double output with ten points and nine assists.
The Warriors are in Caldwell, Idaho tomorrow evening for a 5pm tipoff against The College of Idaho Yotes (10-6, 5-3), who are fresh off an NAIA National Championship season but have already matched their overall loss total in one season when compared to the previous three seasons combined with half of the 2025-26 campaign still to be played out.
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