LA GRANDE, Ore. – With the chance to move on to their first conference tournament championship, the second seeded Mountaineers fell at home to eighth seeded Corban, 100-90 as AJ Monterossi blitzed through the Mountie defense to score 32 points.
 
No eight seed in the tournament has made it past the first round, but now the Warriors find themselves in the title game. Corban will now face fourth seeded Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls to see who will be crowned the winner of the 2016-17 Cascade Collegiate Conference (CCC) Tournament, presented by U.S. Bank.
 
In the loss, four Mountaineers scored in double figures as senior guard Kentrell Washington tallied 23 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Bryan McGriff and junior guard Blake O'Donnell each added 13 points while combining for nine rebounds and four assists. Finishing out the double digit scorers was senior forward Michael Hillman who put up 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting while grabbing five boards.
 
Corban out shot EOU from field goal range, 50.8 percent compared to EOU's 42.7 percent and from behind the arc, 43.8 percent vs. 29.6 percent. The Mountaineers did however grab more rebounds (44-38), while scoring more points in the paint, 42-34.
 
Tipping things off in the first, EOU got things going with a 6-2 run, capped off by a McGriff jumper. Still early in the contest, the Warriors responded with a 5-2 run of their own, cutting the lead to only one, 8-7.
 
Ignited by a two-point jumper from junior guard Austin Strock, the Blue and Gold then started a 7-0 run, going up 15-7 with 14:24 to play until the half. Once again Corban countered with a run of its own, igniting a 8-0 spree, tying the game at 15.
 
Down by two with 7:54 to play until halftime, the Warriors worked their way back up the leader board to go up by nine, 44-35 with 4:04 to play until the break.
 
Over the final two minutes Corban outscored EOU, 4-3 as junior guard Cole Ashby connected on a free throw for the score of the half. At the break Corban led, 53-40.
 
Into the second stanza Corban continued to roll, creating an 8-4 run capped by a jumper from Monterossi with 16:45 to play (63-44).
 
The Mountaineers refused to give in, starting a 8-1 run that was ended by a lay-in from O'Donnell (68-55).
 
A pair of free throws from Corban's Caleb Herzberg with 8:30 to play capped off an 11-3 run for the Warriors and put them up by 21, 79-58.
 
EOU got as close as 10 points, but the red-hot shooting Warriors continued their run in the CCC tournament, defeating first seeded and regular season champion Northwest Christian and second seeded EOU.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
82 – Total rebounds between Corban and EOU.
14 – Home wins in a row this season.
49 – Combined points between Washington, McGriff and O'Donnell.  
 
UP NEXT
The Mountaineers now wait for an at-large bid into the NAIA National Tournament.
 
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