Warner Pacific College Knights (14-4 CCC, 3rd seed, 24-6) vs. Corban University Warriors (8-10 CCC, 6th seed, 15-12): Wed. 2/25, 7:00pm, Bart Valentine Court, Portland, Ore.
Coverage: PPV Video/Free Audio/Live Stats PORTLAND, Ore. – After winning a share of the conference championship for the second time in three seasons, the 15th ranked and third-seeded Warner Pacific College Knights tip-off the
Cascade Collegiate Conference Men's Basketball Championships presented by U.S. Bank at home this Wednesday night with a quarterfinal game against sixth-seed Corban University.
The teams split their two-game season series with Warner Pacific winning 69-51 on January 9th in Portland and Corban scoring the upset in Salem on February 7th, 75-57 in what was the only double-digit
defeat of the season for the Knights.With a tough weekend sweep on the road against Southern Oregon and Oregon Tech, the first since the 2007-'08 season, Warner Pacific (14-4 CCC) clinched the program's second conference title under coach
Jared Valentine and fourth overall. They moved up one spot in this week's NAIA Division II Top 25.
The Knights have won four straight games and seven of their past eight. At 24-6 overall, the program has achieved twenty or more victories three of the past four seasons and nine of ten, reaching the NAIA tourney each of those years. Warner Pacific is hosting a first-round playoff game for the ninth straight season, going 5-3 in those games and 2-1 under the current Valentine with a 12-10 lifetime record in the CCC tournament.
Warner Pacific is led by senior
Doug Thomas (Beaverton, Ore.) and junior
Earl Jones (Henderson, Nev.). Both are averaging 16 points per game, fifth and seventh-best in the conference. Thomas has made 65 three-pointers, second on the team, while Jones has hit 34 triples in seventeen games. His 2.4 steals leads the team and is second in the league.
Senior
Coletun Tarr (Milwaukie, Ore.) is adding 14 points per game and at 80.2% is the team's best free throw shooter and fifth in the conference. Senior
Ryan Parks (Las Vegas, Nev.) set the school record for three-pointers made and is just eight shy of 300 entering the postseason.
Australian senior Josh Black (Gold Coast) dishes 5.4 assists per game, second in the conference and 13th in the nation. Black just moved into second on the career assist list at Warner Pacific College with 593 and counting. Few shoot a better percentage than
Michael Hall. The senior from Eagle River, Alaska is 63% accurate from the field, second-best in the CCC.
Corban (8-10 CCC, 15-12) enters the tournament as one the hottest teams, winning six of their final nine games down the stretch and shooting nearly 49% in the month of February.
The Warriors' leading scorer and rebounder is junior Cyrus Ward. His 15.4 points per game is eighth-best in the conference and nine rebounds ranks third. He's also the seventh-best shooter in the league at nearly 57%. Senior Jordan Carter scores 14.6 a game and distributes around three assists. AJ Monterossi is averaging 4.4 assists, fourth in the CCC and is the league's top-scoring freshmen at 10.6 per game.
The Knights have the best defense in the league, allowing 63.6 points per game, less than 39% shooting from the field and 29% from distance. Corban allows a third-best 69 points per game. Warner Pacific scores 77 points per game (5th) while Corban is second-worst at 74. Both teams shoot around 48% from the floor with Corban the top three-point shooting team (41%). The Knights steal the ball an average of nine times a game, which is second in the league.
This is the fourth post-season meeting between the Knights and Warriors with Warner Pacific winning two of the previous three. Corban knocked Warner Pacific out of the tournament in 2011 with a road win.
The winner advances to the CCC semifinals on Saturday with the championship game played next Tuesday, March 3rd. The national tournament runs March 11th-17th in Point Lookout, Missouri.
