Junior Duo Leads Corban Past Northwest Christian
SALEM, Ore. - Juniors Wade Douglas (Ontario, Ore.) and Jason Braun (Dallas, Ore.) combined to score 32 points off the bench, as Corban's men's basketball team picked up its fourth straight win with a 79-54 victory over the Beacons of Northwest Christian Wednesday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.
Coming back from a two-game absence due to an elbow injury, Douglas came off the bench for the second time this season and shot 7-for-9 from the field while Braun turned in a 6-for-7 showing from the field. Combined the two junior forwards shot an amazing 13-for-16 from the field and scored 40.5% of Corban's points.
The visiting Beacons of Northwest Christian had a six-point lead (19-13) with 9:39 remaining in the opening half following back-to-back free throws by Brent McKee before the Warriors used a 6-0 run fueled by a jumper and lay-in by Douglas to tie the game at 19-all. Back-to-back three-pointers by NCC's Jordan Whittenburg quickly increased the Beacons' lead back to six points (25-16), but Corban used a 13-0 run over a span of 4:22 to grab an eight-point lead (33-25). The Warriors increased their lead to 11 points (38-27) thanks to a jumper by Braun before settling for a 10-point halftime cushion (38-28).
In the second half, Corban maintained its double-digit lead and pulled away by 20 points (59-39) when Douglas took a pass from senior Hannes Gehring (Lake Oswego, Ore.) and recorded the game's only dunk. Wasting no time, Gehring quickly put the Warriors up by 23 points (62-39) with 11:06 to go on the clock as Corban's relentless defense continued to increase the lead. The Warriors grabbed their largest lead of the game (30 points -- 75-45) when freshman Clay Martin (Beaverton, Ore.) made his second of two straight fast break lay-ups following Corban steals with 4:58 remaining in the game. The visiting Beacons would get within 25 points on three separate occasions, but their comeback attempt was too little, too late as the clock became an enemy of Northwest Christian and Corban hung on for its first conference win of the season by the final score of 79-54.
Along with Douglas and Braun, reigning conference Player of the Week and junior Kyle Masten (Salem, Ore.) added 12 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field including 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. Over the past two games, the 6-foot point guard has shot an amazing 12-for-13 from three-point land including a jaw-dropping 12-in-a-row. Gehring and Martin added 10 and 9 points respectively, while freshman Ian Logan (Aloha, Ore.) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds all off the defensive glass.
For Northwest Christian, McKee led the Beacons with a team-high 11 points while Andrew Williams and Whittenburg added 10 and 9 points respectively. NCC's leading scorer and rebounder Josh Jarrett was held to a mere eight points (more than 11 below his season average), but pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
As a team, Corban shot 32-for-62 (51.6%) from the field including 10-for-22 (45.5%) from beyond the arc and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. On the other hand, Northwest Christian turned in a 19-for-59 (32.2%) performance from the field that included 5-for-16 (31.3%) from three-point land and 11-for-14 (78.6%) from the charity stripe.
With the win, Corban improves to 6-7 overall, 2-1 in Cascade Collegiate Conference play. Northwest Christian drops its second straight conference game to fall to 5-9 overall, 2-2 in CCC action. The Warriors will get a much-needed Christmas break with an unbelievable 15-day window between games, as Corban is back in action on Friday, January 4th, when they return to Cascade Collegiate Conference play against nationally-ranked Oregon Tech beginning at 7:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.