Douglas Powers Warriors to First Win Since November

With its 9th straight and 20th victory overall versus Cascade, Corban improves to 2-17 overall, 1-7 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action.

Sophomore Wade Douglas scored a game-high 24 points as Corban's men's basketball team snapped a 13-game losing streak with an 80-70 victory over the Thunderbirds of Cascade on Friday. Photo: Corban Athletics

SALEM - Sophomore Wade Douglas scored a game-high 24 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the field, as Corban's men's basketball team snapped a 13-game losing streak with an 80-70 victory over the Thunderbirds of Cascade on Friday to secure its first conference win of the season.

After falling behind 9-2 in the opening 3:07, Corban battled back to within two points (13-11) thanks to a 9-4 run over a span of 3:33.

Unfortunately, the visiting Thunderbirds extended its lead to eight points (24-16) thanks to a 11-5 run of their own over a span of 5:02.

Trailing by seven (26-19), sophomore Kyle Masten kick started Corban's come back when he converted on an unconventional 4-point play to pull the Warriors within four (26-22) with 7:02 remaining in the opening half.

Following Masten's three-pointer and free throw, Corban used went on an 8-3 spurt to grab its first lead of the game (30-29) with 3:12 on the clock.

Cascade's Brent Newell canned his third 3-pointer of the half for the Thunderbirds final points of the opening stanza with 1:54 to go.

Freshman reserve Ben Potloff capped Corban's first half scoring on a driving lay-up with 1:28 remaining.

In the second half, Corban began to push away from its counterparts thanks to a 21-3 run over the first 7:27 to grab its largest lead of the game (53-35).

In a span of less than two minutes, Cascade whittled away at the Warriors' lead and got within 10 points (53-43) thanks to an 11-0 run that was capped off by Shaun Pile's jumper.

Back-to-back jumpers by Douglas pushed Corban's lead back over double figures (57-43), but the visiting Thunderbirds kept coming and got as close as six (62-56) thanks to another unconventional 4-point play this time by Cascade's Gerry Pickens with 7:33 remaining in the contest.

Despite Corban pushing its lead back about double digits, Cascade looked like it was going to mount one final comeback until senior Nate Morris stole the ball in the back court and fed wide open sophomore Jason Braun for a crowd-lifting fast-break dunk with 1:36 on the clock to ice the game.

Near perfect free throw shooting in the final minute pushed Corban's to its first victory since November 13th and first conference win since a 53-52 upset victory over Southern Oregon on February 18th, 2006.

Along with Douglas, Braun and Masten poured in 16 and 15 points respectively.

Morris added 14 points off the bench, while Douglas and Braun each pulled down a team-best 8 rebounds.

Braun had the best all-around game with 16 points, 8 rebounds, and a game-high 6 assists in 35 minutes of action.

As a team, Corban shot 27-for-63 (42.9%) from the field, including a 17-for-32 (53.1%) performance in the second half.

Meanwhile, Cascade shot 25-for-60 (41.7%) from the field, including 11-for-32 (34.4%) from beyond the 3-point line.

Cascade was led by Newell's team-high 17 points on 6-for-13 shooting from the field, including a 5-for-11 clip from beyond the 3-point line.

Pickens, Pile, and Casey Britton added 16, 10, and 10 points respectively, as the trio combined to shot 5-for-18 from beyond the arc.

Travis Toedtemeier grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Thunderbirds, while Pile and Eric Ehui pulled down 4 boards each.

With its 9th straight and 20th victory overall versus Cascade, Corban improves to 2-17 overall, 1-7 in Cascade Collegiate Conference action.

Meanwhile, Cascade drops to 3-15 overall, 0-8 in CCC play.

The Warriors will return look to continue their winning streak tomorrow night when they host the NAIA's No. 4-ranked Knights of Warner Pacific beginning at 7:30 PM inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center.

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