EUGENE, Ore. – Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times wasn't even remotely in the cards for the No. 7-seeded Corban University Men's Basketball program tonight in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament semifinal stage, as the Warriors retaliated from their regular season sweep at the hands of I-5 rival Bushnell University in ever sweet fashion, as they downed the No. 6-seeded Beacons 78-70 at the Morse Center to provide their travel partners with an early offseason
"This was a classic dog fight between two longtime rivals that neither one wanted to lose," explained Corban head coach Wayne Mendezona. "I felt like our guys had a sense of urgency from the beginning and set the tone. But our inconsistency showed up in the second half both in our play and with how the game was officiated. But our guys kept their composure and made key plays down the stretch to pull out an epic victory to put themselves in a position to play in a conference championship contest."
Mendezona detailed his specific student-athlete performances by sharing, "Joe again was phenomenal on both ends of the floor and had a second-straight game scoring over twenty points. Tj controlled the backboards, Oreon had a phenomenal defensive game holding their leading scorer as of late to only four points. But the unsung hero again for our team was CJ and his magnificent efforts both offensively and defensively as a light for our team. Our guys have a never-quit-mentality, and they refused to lose that mindset. They are going to fight and scrap on every possession for forty minutes. I couldn't be prouder of the effort and tenacity that they showed tonight. We will need all of that and more to beat LC State, the regular season champions, on their home floor on Tuesday. We definitely have the will and the fight to make that happen, and we haven't come this far to not try to finish it off and get to the national tourney. That is our goal and with a collective mindset and trust in the Lord we're going to go full force into trying to make this happen."
It too less than five minutes of regulation time off the scoreboard for the Warriors (16-14) to establish a double-digit lead and never trail again for the remainder of the contest, stretching their lead to as many as 17 points early in the second period against a Beacon (14-15) squad that had just pulled of the miracle of the decade against No. 3-seeded Southern Oregon University two nights ago in Ashland. Despite playing on their home court, the Beacons never rose to the occasion and instead played second fiddle to a Corban squad they had swept in the regular season.
The Corban lead was cut to three points with 4:23 remaining following a 9-0 Bushnell run, but the two CCC rivals traded baskets back-and-forth for the rest of their postseason matchup before a pair of free throws by freshman guard Landon Knox iced the game for the Dubs.
A pair of double-double outings from redshirt junior center Tj Zimmermann and redshirt junior guard Clyde Harris Jr. paced Corban both offensively and defensively tonight in Eugene, with Zimmermann scoring 19 points, snagging ten rebounds, and dishing out five assists awhile Harris Jr. scored 13 points and brought down 11 rebounds, eight of which came off the offensive glass. For a second-straight postseason contest, junior guard Joe Gould led the offense in scoring, with tonight's 25 points representing a Warrior career-high mark after scoring 22 points on two separate occasions this year.
The Beacons were led in scoring by forward Kaleb Burnett and his game-best 26 points alongside 11 boards for his final double-double of 2025-26, while the back-to-back CCC Offensive Player of the Week, forward Cory Johnson, was gridlocked by the Navy and Gold defense press with just four points on 1-for-8 shooting despite leading all rebounders with 14 tonight. Forward Rylan Donovan hopped off the Bushnell bench to score 16 points, representing over 72% of the bench points scored by the Beacons.
It'll be an all-Warrior matchup across the Pacific Northwest in both the men's and women's championship matchups, as Corban will face off with No. 23-ranked Lewis-Clark State College (24-6) in the men's finals, while the Navy and Gold women will host No. 17-ranked LC State on Monday at 5:30pm. The men's championship bout is scheduled for Tuesday at 7pm inside the P1FCU Activity Center in Lewiston, Idaho. Both title matchups between Corban and Lewis-Clark State will be livestreamed for free on the Urban Edge Network (UEN).
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