PORTLAND | Another poor shooting performance from the Warner Pacific University Men's Basketball team (14-15, 10-11) caused them to fall to the #9 College of Idaho Yotes (25-4, 19-2) at C.C. Perry Gym late this evening, dropping their third straight with the 54-82 loss.
 
Shooting just 34.4% from the floor for the entire evening, the Knights once again couldn't find their rhythm from the beginning of this contest onward, while the Yotes found success around every corner on their offensive trips down the court.
 
The Knights fell behind from the first possession of the game, and would never be able to flip the switch on the Top 10 nationally ranked team, as the Yotes scored the first seven points of the contest to set an early precedent for Warner Pacific defense to try to contain.
 
After C of I stretched their lead to 15 points with 7:58 remaining in the first half, the Knights put on an impressive 9-0 run to cut the lead to just six points, and forcing the Yotes to call their first timeout of the game. In that span, Warner Pacific shared the ball at an incredible rate, as their nine points were scored by three different Knights' players from all angles of the court.
 
However, much to the chagrin of Knights' fans, the Yotes would go on their own run following the timeout, with The College of Idaho scoring the last 12 points of the half to take a 43-25 lead into the halftime break.
 
Warner Pacific could do nothing but observe as the Yotes ran their lead well into the double-digits, hitting the 20 point margin mark with more than 15 minutes to play still. That lead would wane and ebb over the rest of the contest, as Warner Pacific's inconsistency from the field caused them put this contest in the rearview mirror, and to look ahead to their finale regular season conference game.
 
Junior guard Thomas Miles was the only Knight to score in double-figures tonight, as he cashed in 10 points in just 17 minutes off the bench. Senior forward Kaleb Tompkins added eight points and four rebounds in the penultimate home game of his collegiate career.
 
The College of Idaho had four student-athletes score in double-digits this evening, being led by guard Johnny Radford, who each scored 13 points in their winning efforts. Fellow guard Jake O'Neil added 10 points with a game-high nine rebounds before fouling out in the second half. The Yotes will march into the postseason with at least a share of the Regular Season Conference Title, as a win tomorrow would cement their #1 overall seed, and the NAIA Tournament Automatic bid associated with it.
 
Warner Pacific will return to C.C. Perry Gym tomorrow evening for their final regular season conference game against the Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers, which is set to tipoff at 5pm PDT. The Knights will be honoring four senior student-athletes prior to the start of the game, with the anticipated start time set for 4:45pm.