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Morris leads all scorers, Warriors fall to Mountaineers
January 20, 2007
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Senior Nate Morris came off the bench to lead all scorers with 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field tonight in Corban's loss to the NAIA's No. 17-ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon. (Photo courtesy of William Scott Photography) |
LA GRANDE, Ore. - Senior Nate Morris (Dufur, Ore.) scored a game-high 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 from beyond the three-point line, but Corban's men's basketball team fell to the NAIA's No. 17-ranked Mountaineers of Eastern Oregon, 88-61, on Saturday.
Eastern Oregon scored the first five points of the game in less than two minutes and increased its lead to as much as six (19-13) with 10:55 remaining in the opening half. Trailing by half a dozen, Corban used a 14-6 run in 3:34 to take its first lead of the contest (27-25) via a 3-point bucket by senior Brad Reynoso (Salem, Ore.) with 7:21 on the clock. Following a jumper by EOU's Tanner McIntosh that knotted the game at 27-all, sophomore Wade Douglas (Ontario, Ore.) gave the visiting Warriors their second and final lead of the game (29-27) with a fast break jumper in the paint, as the clock read 6:16. Over the final six-plus minutes, the host Mountaineers used a 19-6 run en route to securing an 11-point advantage (46-35) at intermission.
Corban quickly cut Eastern Oregon's lead to single digits (53-45) in the first 4:09 of the second half. Unfortunately, the Warriors could not keep the nationally-ranked Mountaineers at bay thanks to a 16-2 EOU run over a span of 5:41 to grab a 20-point lead (69-49) with 10:10 left in the contest. In less than five minutes, Eastern Oregon extended its lead to 30 points (82-52) with 5:02 remaining in the final half. A Thomas McCarthy fast break jumper with 4:39 left gave Eastern Oregon its largest lead of the game (84-53) before Corban's bench cut into the Mountaineers' lead for the final margin of 27 points (88-61).
Along with Morris' game-high point total off the bench, Douglas added 14 points and fellow sophomore Kyle Masten (Salem, Ore.) poured in 9 points. Junior J.D. Hill (Lebanon, Ore.) led the Warriors with a team-best 5 rebounds, while Morris and sophomore Jason Braun (Dallas, Ore.) grabbed 4 boards each.
As a team, Corban shot 23-for-58 (39.7%) from the field, including a 9-for-12 (75.0%) performance from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon shot 37-for-65 (56.9%) from the field, including 8-for-9 (88.9%) from the charity stripe. The two teams combined to shoot 12-for-33 (36.4%) from beyond the 3-point line, as each team knocked down six shots from beyond the arc.
Eastern Oregon was led by Josh Landsverk's team-high 16 points off the bench on 8-for-9 shooting from the field, while a quartet of Mountaineers -- Neil Fryer, McIntosh, McCarthy, and Jeremy Templeton -- added 15, 12, 12, and 10 points respectively. McIntosh grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds, while Dan Blanchard and Nick Finley pulled down 7 and 6 boards respectively.
With its third straight loss, Corban falls to 2-20 overall, 1-10 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action. Meanwhile, Eastern Oregon extends its winning streak to five games and improves to 16-4 overall, 8-3 in CCC play. The Warriors will continue their road trip on Friday, January 26th, when Corban takes on conference rival Concordia beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Portland.
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