Warriors Fall to Montana State-Northern
SALEM, Ore. - Freshman Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) scored a team-high 21 points and grabbed a team-best five rebounds, as Corban's men's basketball team fell, 84-79, Friday to the Lights of Montana State-Northern in the second game of the F & W Fence Co. Basketball Classic.
The 6-foot-8 freshman post sparked the Warriors' early run, as Logan made three straight shots from beyond the 3-point line and helped Corban secure an early seven point advantage (11-4). Unfortunately for the host team, Montana State-Northern came back and tied the game at 17-all thanks to a 13-6 run over a span of 2:36.
Over the remaining 12:13 of the opening half, MSU-Northern used a 30-16 run en route to taking a 14-point lead (47-33) at halftime.
Coming out of intermission, Corban got down by as much as 19 points (63-44) with 15:11 showing on the clock. The Warriors used their never-say-die attitude and began to claw its way back to within four points (80-76) with 59 ticks remaining following a lay-up by senior Hannes Gehring (Lake Oswego, Ore.).
Using a trapping half-court defense, Corban seemed to force what could have been a game-changing turnover only to find out that Montana State-Northern's head coach called a timeout before the ball was coughed up by one of the Lights' players.
From that point on it became a battle of both free throws and rebounding, as MSU-Northern made 4-out-of-7 shots from the charity stripe and got key offensive caroms off missed free throws when needed.
Along with Logan, Gehring and freshman Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) registered 15 and 13 points respectively. On the boards, Martin and fellow freshman Nash Keene (Aumsville, Ore.) aided Logan's efforts with 4 and 3 rebounds respectively. Making the first start of his collegiate career, freshman point guard Bryan Martin (Salem, Ore.) led the Warriors with a team-high six assists, while Clay Martin recorded a game-high tying three steals.
For Montana State-Northern, Delvaughn Tinned led all scorers with 34 points on 14-for-22 shooting from the field to lead a quartet of Lights in double figures. Clinton Shelton added a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, while Andrew Sellars and Travis Noble chipped in with 14 and 13 points respectively.
As a team, Corban ended the night shooting 32-for-57 (56.1%) from the field to go along with the team's 9-for-21 (42.9%) performance from beyond the arc and the Warriors' dismal 6-for-18 (33.3%) output from the free throw line. On the other hand, MSU-Northern turned in a 31-for-63 (49.2%) performance from the field, 8-for-20 (40.0%) showing from behind the 3-point line, and a combined 14-for-21 (66.7%) output from the free throw line.
With the loss, Corban falls to 2-7 overall, while Montana State-Northern improves to 9-3 on the season. The Warriors will return to action on Saturday, December 8th, when they play host to Walla Walla University beginning at 8:00 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center to conclude the F & W Fence Basketball Classic.
NOTE: Saturday's F & W Fence Basketball Classic action begins with fellow Cascade Collegiate Conference member and nationally-ranked Warner Pacific going head-to-head with Montana State-Northern beginning at 6:00 p.m. The Knights of Warner Pacific tipped off the classic with an 82-57 victory over Walla Walla on Friday afternoon.