SALEM, Ore. – Facing one of the hottest teams in the Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) on Friday afternoon, the Corban University men's basketball team couldn't slow down (RV) Northwest University. The Eagles moved to 3-0 in conference play with a 78-71 triumph over the Warriors.
"We started off slow to a team that is playing great basketball," said head coach Mitch Freeman. "We need to be more consistent and play harder throughout the game. We showed some fight in the second half, but we couldn't overcome the deficit."
Northwest has opened its CCC regiment with wins over No. 1-ranked Oregon Tech, No. 17-ranked Southern Oregon, and now Corban.
The Eagles stormed out of the gates in Friday evening's contest, shooting at a blistering 51.6% from the field and 54.5% mark from beyond the arc in the first half. Northwest took a 42-31 lead into the locker room at the midway point.
Trailing by 16 with seven minutes left to play, Corban managed to trim the Eagles' lead to eight with just over two minutes to go, but Northwest withstood the late run to seal the victory.
The Eagles' perimeter offense was led by Ryan Ricks (6-13 FG, 5-9 3PT), who drained five of the squad's eight three-pointers. Ricks, who is coming off a 28-point effort in Northwest's upset of then No. 1-ranked Oregon Tech, led all players with 20 points on Friday evening.
In the front court, Eagle head coach Jeff Drinkwine also got standout performances from Hussayn Ford (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Cesar Sandoval (10 points, 11 rebounds), who each notched double-doubles.
Beau Roggenbach excelled for the Navy and Gold, turning in a team-high 15 points and seven rebounds.
The only other Warrior to reach double figures was AJ Hodges, who dropped 14 points, while also snatching five boards.
In his first CCC start of the 2019-20 season, Taylor Anderson provided energy on both the offensive and defensive end. The rookie point guard scored eight points, dishing out a trio of assists and registering three takeaways.
Corban (7-7, 1-3 CCC) will regroup for another conference battle tomorrow night, hosting The Evergreen State College in the squad's final game of 2019. Tip-off for the matchup will take place at 7:30 p.m. inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.