OLYMPIA, Wash. – After dropping an overtime result earlier this month on Tim Hills Court to The Evergreen State College, the Corban University Men's Basketball team earned a hard-fought 89-85 revenge win on the Geoducks' home court, leading by as many as 17 points before the home team shaved the lead back down over the course of the second half before the Warriors hit their free throws down the stretch to secure the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) victory.
"We came up on the winning side of another gut check and thrilling defensive performance," began Warriors' head coach Wayne Mendezona. "This was a gutsy and great win for our team after losing a big lead with a string of careless turnovers. At times, we struggle to make the right decisions in consecutive possessions, and it creates a compounding affect that translates into missed opportunities on the offensive end that then transition to the defensive end."
When asked to discuss his team's individual efforts, Mendezona shared, "Payton proved extremely valuable on both ends of the court tonight, especially at the beginning of the second half. He really ignited the team with key jump shots, great leadership, and intensity on defense. Anjay, Tj, and Oreon were the catalyst again on the inside of numerous possessions, getting key rebounds down the stretch when we needed them most. Joe was a deciding factor on both offense and defense, especially in crunch time when we needed a dependable shooter at the line. Niko had his best game of the season contributing with clutch shots to help us maintain a slim lead. We look forward to a great battle tomorrow night against Northwest."
In a 49-foul contest, the Warriors (10-11, 6-7) scored almost 30 of their 89 team points via the charity stripe, as the two CCC programs shot a combined 78 free throws while still managing to shoot over 40% from the field as well. Corban converted on over 55% of their total field goals, their second highest field goal percentage of the regular season and highest in conference play thus far. Meanwhile, Evergreen (3-12, 3-10) was held to 41.5% from the field and both teams shot porous from beyond the three-point line in a combined 8-for-36 effort.
With just over 18 minutes left to play, the Dubs opened up a 17-point lead after entering the halftime break with a 12-point scoreboard advantage, but the Geoducks continued to chip away slowly but surely by taking advantage of Warrior miscues that eventually totaled to 24 Evergreen points off 17 Corban turnovers. The Geoducks also touted a substantial 12-2 vantage in second chance opportunities, as they hauled in 15 offensive rebounds compared to nine for the Navy and Gold.
At the 4:45 mark, Evergreen tied the contest at 75-75 and had all the momentum on their side, but back-to-back heads up plays by redshirt junior guard Clyde Harris Jr. swung the pendulum back to the Warrior bench. Following a hard-fought layup in the post, Harris Jr. drew an offensive charge and would later split a pair of free throws on the ensuing Corban possession, leading to a two-possession lead following a midrange jumper from redshirt senior guard Nikola Milosevic. The Geoducks crawled back to within a bucket with 90 seconds to play, but the Navy and Gold were able to convert their free throws when it mattered most to secure the conference split with Evergreen.
Milosevic finished with a season-high 15 points off the bench in a 5-for-6 effort from the field, while redshirt junior center Tj Zimmermann and junior guard Joe Gould tied for the team-high scoring mark with 18 points apiece and a combined 18-for-23 from the free throw line. Harris Jr. added 11 points and a team-high six rebounds.
A massive scoring performance in Salem by Geoducks' guard Tony Frolich-Fair allowed Evergreen to sneak out of the Oregon capital with a victory, but another game-high 32 points today in Olympia didn't clinch a season sweep of the Warriors, as he added ten rebounds for a double-double complete game effort. Guard Bradley Graham added 15 points, five boards, and five assists as the only other Geoduck in double-figure scoring.
The Warriors will complete the last leg of their road trip before returning to Tim Hills Court for a four-game homestand, as they'll be in Kirkland tomorrow for a 5pm tipoff against Northwest University (7-14, 4-9).
Follow Corban Athletics:
Facebook l Twitter (X) l Instagram l YouTube l Email
