SALEM, Ore. – Trailing by ten points early in the second half, the Bushnell men's basketball team mounted a defense-fueled comeback on Tuesday for a storybook 71-66 victory against Cascade Conference rival Corban University.
 
Head Coach Eddie Alexander said, "This was a great team win tonight. I am so proud of the job everyone did in practice this week and the way the bench impacted the game. We also had a great group of fans that traveled up to support us tonight. I was so happy to look across the gym and see those fatheads of the players and to have our students support us like that. It definitely fired up the guys!"
 
The Warriors, currently receiving votes in the NAIA national coaches poll, went ahead 42-32 after hitting their opening shot of the second half, but the Beacon defense put the clamps on, holding the home team without a field goal over the next eight minutes.
 
Kaden Sand hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer with 9:23 remaining to give Bushnell the lead at 48-47 as part of a 23-5 run. They would never trail again, and pushed their own lead to as many as nine points in the final three minutes.
 
"The defensive effort in the second half was played with a sense of urgency," added Alexander. "Our guys bought in and dug in like it mattered."
 
Bushnell (8-12, 6-8 CCC) hung on despite shooting just 40% in the game and hitting just two three-pointers, in large part to their usual 80% free-throw shooting, along with a CCC season-low nine turnovers. The Beacons also held the Warriors to 40% shooting as Corban hit just one three-pointer in the second half.
 
Spencer Hoffman (pictured) didn't score a single point in the first meeting between the schools, an 84-66 set back in Eugene back in November. He made his presence known on Tuesday, leading all players with 17 points as he shot 8-for-12 from the field along with a team-high eight rebounds. 
 
Four other Beacons scored in double-figures. Stevie Schlabach posted 13 and hit 7-for-8 from the free-throw line including a handful of clutch game-icing free-throws in the final moments. Luke Smith added 12 points off the bench, Sand scored 11 and Alexis Angeles recorded ten points.
 
Corban (13-7, 9-5) was led by Collin Warmouth, scoring 14 and Taylor Anderson adding 13. Darius Henderson scored nine points and led all players with ten rebounds.
 
The Beacons come home this weekend and will take aim at an opportunity to move back to .500 in the CCC as they play host to Northwest (7-12, 4-9) on Friday and Evergreen (1-13, 1-11) on Saturday.