Junior Ben Potloff continues to add to his career-high point totals this season thanks to his 20-point effort tonight against Evergreen.
Corban's Potloff Puts Up Career-High in Points in Loss to Geoducks of Evergreen
BOX SCORE
SALEM, Ore. – Junior Ben Potloff (Keizer, Ore.) registered a career-high 20 points on an amazing 7-for-8 shooting from the field, but Corban's men's basketball team fell to the NAIA's No. 20-ranked Geoducks of The Evergreen State College, 93-69, Friday night inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
In the opening game of Cascade Collegiate Conference play for both teams, Corban was looking to end a four-game losing streak at the hands of Evergreen dating back to the 2005-06 season.
The opening half saw the Warriors grab a three-point lead (7-4) after the first two-plus minutes, as sophomore Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) canned his first of four three-pointers on the night with 17:24 remaining in the opening half. Evergreen would use an 8-0 run to grab a 12-8 lead following a jumper by Steve Trotter off an assist by Nate Menefee with 15:03 left in the first half. The visiting Geoducks would push their lead to as much as eight points (21-13) after Trotter connected on his second jumper of the opening nine minutes. Corban would battled back to within a mere point (25-24) via a 12-3 run that was capitalized by freshman Erik Cronrath's (Battle Ground, Wash.) breakaway dunk off a length of the court pass by junior Paul Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) with 6:52 showing on the clock. Evergreen would use a 12-4 run over the course of four minutes to grab a 37-28 lead following a three-pointer by Anthony Gallagher with just under two minutes left in the opening twenty minutes. An old-fashion three-point play by Clay Martin would trim the Geoducks' lead to five points (39-34) with exactly a minute remaining before Evergreen's Steve Trotter registered a tip-in with 49 ticks remaining on the clock for the halftime differencial of seven points (41-34).
In the second half, Evergreen would push its lead to double figures (45-34) in the opening two minutes following a Michael Ward lay-in. Corban could not get any closer than nine points (45-36) via a lay-up by Clay Martin with 18-25 left in the game. The visiting Geoducks would push their lead to as much as 24 points (90-69) via a pair of Ward free throws before Evergreen settled for a final margin of 24 points (93-69). Over the game's final twenty minutes, Evergreen torched the nets thanks to a shooting percentage of 57.1% (20-for-35) that included 6-for-14 (42.9%) from long distance.
Besides Potloff's scoring performance, Clay Martin tallied a game-high 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the field that included a 4-for-7 output from three-point range. Martin netted 15 points in the first half before notching 12 points in the final twenty minutes, as the second-year Warriors fell a mere two points shy of his career-high. Cronrath aided the duo's scoring efforts with 10 points and five rebounds, while senior Wade Douglas (Ontario, Ore.) pulled down a team-high six boards off the bench.
Evergreen was led by Menefee's 20-point effort on 7-for-15 shooting from the field that included a 4-for-9 performance from beyond the arc. The CCC Preseason Player of the Year was aided by a trio of Geoducks -- Marcus Wright, Ward, and Trotter -- that recorded 14, 11, and 10 points respectively. On the glass, Trotter registered a double-double thanks to his 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with John Levi III's game-high 11 assists.
As a team, Corban shot 23-for-49 (46.9%) from the field that included a 7-for-13 (53.8%) showing from three-point distance and a 16-for-27 (59.3%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Evergreen was 37-for-70 (52.9%) from the field that included an 11-for-28 (39.3%) showing from beyond the arc and an 8-for-10 (80.0%) performance at the charity stripe.
With the loss, Corban falls to 3-4 overall that includes an early 0-1 record in conference action. Meanwhile, Evergreen improves to 4-1 overall, 1-0 in CCC action. The Warriors will return to hardwood on Saturday, December 6th, against the Eagles of Northwest University beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.