Seventh-year head coach Justin Sherwood went head-to-head with Willamette for the fourth time in his coaching career.
"Battle of Salem" Goes to Willamette Despite Game-High 20 Points by Corban's Martin
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – Sophomore Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) scored a game-high 20 points on 5-for-14 shooting from the field to go along with a perfect 8-for-8 at the free throw line, but Corban's men's basketball team fell to the Bearcats of Willamette, 79-76, Friday night inside the Cone Field House.
Battling for the first time since the 2004-05 season, cross-town rivals Corban and Willamette went head-to-head in the "Battle of Salem" that went the way of Bearcats despite Martin's game-high point performance to go along with a trio of Warriors that also scored in double figures.
Junior Ben Potloff (Keizer, Ore.), sophomore Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.), and junior Paul Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) added 19, 16, and 13 points respectively, as the trio combined to shoot 19-for-36 from the field.
In the opening half, Willamette would jump out to a quick four-point lead (6-2) in the first three minutes before Corban used a 6-2 run to knot the game at 8-all. Both teams would battle over the next five-plus minutes, as the game was tied for the sixth time at 15-15 following a jumper by senior Wade Douglas (Ontario, Ore.) with 12:15 on the clock. The host Bearcats would then use a 17-2 run to grab its largest lead of the opening half (32-17) with just under six minutes left following a three-pointer by Willamette's Marcus Holmes. Corban would attempt a comeback, but could only get as close as 13 points (38-25) following a buzzer-beating lay-in by the Bearcats' Corey Costantino.
Over the game's final twenty minutes, Corban would quickly cut Willamette's lead to single digits getting as close as six points (48-42) following back-to-back free throws by Martin with 13:02 left in the game. Willamette would push its lead back to as many as 13 points (57-44) with 10:25 showing on the clock following a pair of free throws by Holmes. Using its never-say-die attitude, Corban would begin to claw its way back over the next nine minutes en route to knotting the game for the seventh and final time at 76-all via a 22-13 run that was highlight by back-to-back three-pointers by Martin with the final one coming with 90 seconds left in the game. Willamette would get a go-ahead jumper from Cameron Mitchell with 56 seconds left before Nick Babji would close out the game's scoring via a free throw with 34 ticks remaining. Martin would attempt to send the game into overtime with a three-pointer in the game's final seconds, but his shot was no-good which resulted in the game's final margin of three points (79-76).
The aforementioned quartet of Clay Martin, Potloff, Logan, and Paul Martin were aided scoring-wise by Douglas' eight-point performance to go along with his team-high eight rebounds. On the boards, Douglas was aided by Paul Martin and freshman Erik Cronrath (Battle Ground, Wash.) who pulled down six and five rebounds respectively.
Willamette was led by Kyler McClary's team-high 19 points, while Mitchell and Babji added 17 and 10 points respectively. Babji grabbed a game-high nine rebounds for the Bearcats, while Mitchell pulled down eight boards and Costantino grabbed four rebounds.
As a team, Corban shot 27-for-60 (45.0%) from the field to go along with a 6-for-17 (35.3%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 16-for-22 (72.7%) showing at the free throw line. On the other hand, Willamette was 28-for-59 (47.5%) from the field to go along with an 8-for-16 (50.0%) showing from beyond the arc and a 15-for-20 (75.0%) performance at the charity stripe.
With the loss, Corban falls to 3-6 overall while Willamette evens its non-conference record at 3-3 overall. The Warriors are back in action on Saturday, December 13th, against the Wildcats of Linfield beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.