Men's Basketball: Northwest Christian Downs Corban, 77-69

Corban falls to 0-1 to open the young season. Meanwhile, Northwest Christian improves to 2-1 overall.

Photo: Corban Athletics

SALEM - Senior Kevin Van Hook and sophomore Jason Braun scored 16 points each on a combined 11-for-18 shooting from the field, but it was not enough as Corban's men's basketball team dropped its season-opening game to Northwest Christian, 77-69, on Tuesday.

Van Hook, who was making his debut in a Warrior uniform, was 6-for-10 from the field, including 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Braun shot 5-fot-7 from the floor, while connecting on both of his 3-point shots.

Corban opened the game by scoring the first point via a Braun free throw, but quickly got behind by as many as 12 (22-10) with 10:26 remaining in the opening half. The Warriors battled back to within a single bucket (26-24) when sophomore Wade Douglas scored on a jumper in the paint with 2:39 left in the opening half. Unfortunately, that was the closest that Corban would get in the first twenty minutes, as the visiting Beacons held the Warriors to a mere nine made field goals.

In the opening minute of the second half, senior Brad Reynoso gave Corban only its second lead of the game via a 3-pointer. Over the next two-plus minutes, the Warriors would push their lead to 7 (37-30) thanks to a 10-4 run that was capped off with a 3-point bucket by sophomore Kyle Masten. Unfortunately, the visiting Beacons used a run of their own over the next three-plus minutes to knot the game at 38-all on a lay-up by Carden Gambee. Corban grabbed its final lead of the game at 44-42 with 11:52 remaining when sophomore Hannes Gehring nailed a jumper in the paint.

Northwest Christian used a 15-2 run over the next 3:56 to take its largest lead of the half (57-46) with 8:32 left on the clock. The Warriors attempted to battle back and got within three points (65-62) on Van Hook's second three-pointer of the game. Corban could not get any closer, as Northwest Christian used timely free throwing shooting en route to handing the Warriors an opening loss at home.

Beside the duo of Van Hook and Braun, Masten added 13 points off the bench of 5-for-9 shooting from the field, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc. Reynoso, Douglas, and Gehring added 8, 4, and 4 points, while Douglas pulled down a game-high 9 rebounds.

As a team, Corban shot 27-for-58 (46.6%) from the field, including 6-for-10 (60.0%) from the free throw line. Meanwhile, Northwest Christian shot 29-for-56 (51.8%) from the field, including a 70.4% (19-for-27) clip during the second half.

Northwest Christian was led by Joshua Jarrett's game-high 26 points on 11-for-20 shooting from the field. Jordan Humphreys, Andrew Miller, and Andrew Williams chipped in with 15, 11, and 10 points respectively, while Miller and Crinklaw pulled down a combined 11 rebounds (6 for Miller and 5 by Crinklaw).

The Warriors are back in action on Friday when they go head-to-head with California Baptist beginning at 4:00 PM in Rocklin, California as part of the William Jessup Tournament.

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