EUGENE, Ore. – The top defense in the Cascade Conference kept the top offense in check on Friday night as No. 3 College of Idaho took down the Bushnell men's basketball team, 77-58.
 
The Yotes (25-2, 20-1 CCC) opened the second half on a 23-9 run and pulled away as they clinched their fourth straight regular season Cascade Collegiate Conference title and extended a 20-game winning streak.
 
Beacons Head Coach Eddie Alexander said, "It was a tough game tonight offensively. We played very well defensively in the first half but had a stretch in the second half where we struggled to execute on both ends. That was the difference. C of I is a great team and although we battled, you have to shoot well against them in order to stay in the game. We did not do that well, but I give credit to the Yotes elite defense and the way they mixed it up on us all night. We are determined to bounce back and build momentum into the quarterfinals next week."
 
The Beacons (15-12, 12-9) were held to their lowest point total of the season and their 31.3% field goal shooting was their worst since a season-opening defeat at the hands of currently NAIA No. 1-ranked Grace College.
 
Bushnell was led off the bench by Cory Johnson, scoring a game-high 15 behind a trio of three-pointers, along with a team-leading four assists. Stevie Schlabach brought his career total to 1,990 points as he scored 13 and will look to become the third Beacon ever to cross the 2000-point threshold on Saturday.
 
The Yotes were led by Samaje Morgan, scoring 14 points and a game-high five assists. Tyler Robinett came off the bench to score 12 as the C of I reserves out-scored their Bushnell counterparts, 38-24. College of Idaho committed just five turnovers while forcing the Beacons into eleven, for a 14-1 advantage in points off miscues.
 
The loss, combined with results on either side of them in the standings, clinched sixth-place in the CCC for the Beacons and the No. 6 seed for the conference tournament. They will open up next Wednesday on the road in Klamath Falls against No. 16 Oregon Tech, who clinched the three seed on Friday.
 
The Beacons will wrap up the regular season, and Schlabach will go for 2000 points, against Eastern Oregon University at 5:00 pm Saturday.