Mid Valley Reporter

With the new year just hours away from the conclusion of tonight's Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) matchup, the (RV) Corban University Men's Basketball team (10-3, 6-1) decided to ring it in with some style, as the Warriors trounced The Evergreen State College Geoducks (1-9, 1-6) in dominate fashion with 98-64 posted as the final score.

The Warriors started off cold from the field in Olympia tonight, failing to convert on each of their field goal attempts until two minutes into the contest when junior guard Taylor Anderson hit from behind the three-point line. Luckily for the Warriors, the Geoducks had also been unsuccessful in their offensive strategy thus far, only scoring four points before Anderson got Corban on the board.

Eight different Warriors jumped in on the scoring action over the next 10 minutes of play, with the Geoducks still hanging around at 29-20 in favor of Corban. Only four Evergreen State players had scored thus far, but a pair of steals followed by layups and free throws brought the Geoducks to within four points following the Warriors' short-lived run.

The Navy and Gold finally managed to break free thanks to multiple and-one buckets from the big men in the paint, as both senior forward James Carlson and sophomore forward Jared Franklin each tallied layups through contact to stretch the lead to 40-24.

The Warriors reached the midway mark to the century line on their final possession of the first half, scoring on a steal and fastbreak drive from junior guard Dirk Helaire II, who avoided the contact to hit the layup and then prevented the Geoducks from scoring at the buzzer.

Carlson and senior guard Mateo Escheik led the Warriors at the half with seven points apiece, leading seven different Warriors to score at least five opening half points. Meanwhile, Evergreen State guard Jourdan Joseph was the leading scorer with 11 points thus far, while three other Geoducks tallied six points each.

Senior guard Masie Mohammadi quickly gave Corban the 20-point lead that evaded them throughout the first half, connecting on back-to-back three-pointers to kickstart the second period of action with a 57-37 advantage.

That lead continued to grow for the Warriors over the next several minutes, as they held a 74-42 margin in their favor with 11:08 remaining in the contest, as both the offense and defense was clicking on almost every possession, regardless of who was on the court donning the Navy and Gold.

With less than three minutes remaining, Coach Kelly cleared his bench and the Warriors' reserves rode out the final moments of their dominate 98-64 win over the Geoducks, their fourth-straight victory and sixth in their last seven games. Freshman guard and newly promoted Gold Squad team member Carter Knox tallied his first points of his young collegiate career as well, as he scored the final two points for Corban to finish in style.

The Warriors dominated in nearly every aspect of the game, specifically in points off turnovers (21-5), points off the bench (42-10), and points in the paint (64-24). They even doubled up the Geoducks on the turnover margin, forcing 15 miscues from Evergreen State and committing only seven themselves.

Escheik and junior guard Collin Warmouth led the way for the Warriors offensively tonight, scoring 17 and 15 points respectively, with Warmouth adding five boards and a pair of assists. Carlson was the only other starter in double-digits with 11 points, while junior guard Reece Van Lierop and Franklin added 11 points apiece as well.

Geoducks' Joseph finished with a game-high 21 points in 34 minutes played, adding five rebounds, and shooting 33% from the field. Forward Tyler Williford nearly clutched a double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds, with guard Jayden Upshaw following in suit with nine points and eight boards.

(RV) Corban Men's Basketball now prepares for a tough road trip down south to the southern CCC teams, as they'll battle the Owls of Oregon Tech (6-7, 3-4) at 7:30pm PST next Friday, followed by the Raiders of Southern Oregon University (8-5, 4-3) on Saturday at 5pm PST.

Original source can be found here