Senior Duo Leads Corban to Win Over Whitman
WALLA WALLA, Wash. - Seniors Hannes Gehring (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and Ben Sisler (Corvallis, Ore.) each scored a team-high 18 points, as Corban's men's basketball picked up its second straight victory, 82-73, Friday with a win over Whitman College at the Wildhorse Resort Classic held inside the Sherwood Center.
Using his third different starting line-up of the season, sixth-year head coach Justin Sherwood sent two freshman, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior out at the beginning of the game.
The Warriors jumped out to a five-point lead (20-15) with 8:50 remaining in the opening half thanks to a jumper by sophomore Paul Martin (Beaverton, Ore.). Using a 6-0 run over the next 71 seconds, the host Missionaries grabbed a slim one-point advantage (21-20) with 7:39 to go in the first stanza. Whitman's lead did not last long as Corban pushed its lead to as much as four points (29-25) with 98 ticks remaining on the first half clock as junior Jason Braun (Dallas, Ore.) rebounded his own missed shot and laid it in for the Warriors' final points of the opening half. The Warriors clung to a slim one-point lead (29-28) at the half before blowing things open over the game's final twenty minutes.
Neither team grabbed much of an advantage in the second half until sophomore Ben Potloff (Keizer, Ore.) sparked the Warriors' 13-2 run with a three-pointer with 10:38 to go in the game. With its run, Corban secured an 11-point advantage (62-51) with 8:38 remaining when freshman Bryan Martin (Salem, Ore.) connected on his lone field goal of the game via a lay-up. With 3:22 left on the clock, the Warriors grabbed their second 11-point lead of the contest (74-63) when Gehring converted on a lay-up off an assist by junior Kyle Masten (Salem, Ore.). Corban's final double-digit advantage came with 1:59 left, as freshman Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) converted back-to-back free throws to give the Warriors a 78-68 lead. Whitman got to within five points (78-73) with 68 seconds remaining, but Corban notched the game's final four points via two more free throws by Clay Martin and a lay-up by freshman Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) with 42 ticks left for the final pair of the Warriors' 53 second half points en route to the game's final margin of nine (82-73).
Along with the duo of Gehring and Sisler, Logan and Clay Martin scored 11 and 10 points respectively while Paul Martin and Masten added 9 and 5 points respectively. Gehring and Braun led the Warriors with five rebounds each, while Masten registered a team-best four assists.
For Whitman, Chris Faidley led all players with 19 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Graham Brewer, Jordan Wheeler, and Garth Brandal added 18, 16, and 14 points respectively. On the boards, Max Adcox and Brewer aided Faidley's performance with six and five rebounds respectively while Wheeler dished out a game-high seven assists.
As a team, Corban ended the night shooting 32-for-60 (53.3%) from the field to go along with the team's 8-for-23 (34.8%) performance from beyond the arc and the Warriors' 10-for-16 (62.5%) output from the free throw line. On the other hand, Whitman turned in a 29-for-57 (50.9%) performance from the field, 9-for-19 (47.4%) showing from behind the 3-point line, and a mere 6-for-7 (85.7%) output from the free throw line.
With the win, Corban improves to 4-7 overall, while Whitman falls to 2-4 on the season. The Warriors will return to action on Saturday, December 15th, when they conclude play in the Wildhorse Resort Classic against fellow NAIA Region I member Montana Tech of the University of Montana beginning at 6:00 p.m. inside the Sherwood Center on the campus of Whitman College.