Cross-town Contest against Corban Gets Away from Bearcats, 85-69

By Mark Colachico, Interim Assistant Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, ORE. -- Four nights after rallying from a 14-point deficit to defeat California Institute of Technology, Willamette University hung tight with Corban University before falling to the Warriors, 85-69, Tuesday inside the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center. The Bearcats fall to 1-3 on the season, while Corban improves to 5-2.

Corban took advantage of its performance at the free throw line, as the Warriors nailed 26 free throws compared to Willamette's 15.

Alex Brown (Sr., F, Happy Valley, OR/Clackamas HS) led the Bearcats with 17 points, while Brendon McCullough (Fr., G, San Antonio, TX/Home Schooled) added 14 points for the Bearcats to go along with a 10-point effort from Bridger Harlington (Jr., Wing, Lake Tapps, WA/Auburn Riverside HS).

Other key contributors for the Bearcats were Brandon Luedtke (Jr., F, Meridian, ID/Mountain View HS) with seven rebounds, while McCullough handed out a team-high three assists to go along with three rebounds.

For Corban, five players scored in double figures led by Jordan Carter with a game-high 19 points. Cyrus Ward, Toby Roth, AJ Monterossi, and Jeremiah Harris also scored in double figures with 14, 14, 13, and 10 points, respectively. On the boards, Harris registered a double-double with a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with a game-high six assists by Monterossi.

Corban began the game by scoring the opening six points. Willamette fought back via an 8-1 run over a span of two minutes en route to earning an 8-7 lead on back-to-back free throws by Brown with 14:03 on the clock.

Both teams would battle back-and-forth over the next five minutes, as the Bearcat secured their final lead of the night (18-17) on a free throw by Nico Troplent (Fr., Wing, Los Angeles, CA/Cathedral HS) with 8:55 left in the opening half.

Over the next six minutes, Corban slowly extended its lead to double digits (36-26) on a pair of Carter free throws before the Warriors settled for a 40-30 lead at halftime.

The second half began similar to the first half, as Corban scored the opening seven points en route to earning a 47-30 lead following a lay-in by Monterossi with just over 18 minutes left in the game.

Willamette would get as close as 14 points at 78-64 on a free throw by Troplent with just over three minutes left, as Corban closed out the game on a 7-5 run for the final difference of 16 points.

As a team, the Bearcats combined to shoot 24-for-68 (35.3%) from the field with Willamette also knocking down 6-of-24 (25.0%) shots from beyond the three-point line and 15-of-22 (68.2%) at the free throw line.

On the other hand, Corban was a combined 26-for-54 (48.1%) from the field that included a 14-for-24 (58.3%) clip in the second half. The Warriors were also 7-of-22 (31.8%) from long distance and 26-of-38 (68.4%) at the charity stripe.

Willamette will hit the road for two games over the Thanksgiving break, as the Bearcats begin the weekend against the University of Dubuque (Iowa) at the Colorado College Thanksgiving Invitational on Friday, Nov. 28. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. (MST).