SALEM, Ore. – Freshman Frankie Johnson (Renton, Wash./Hazen HS) continued an outstanding rookie season with a career-high 24 points but it wasn’t enough as the Evergreen Geoducks fell to the Corban Warriors, 76-70, in a Cascade Conference men’s basketball game on Saturday night in Salem, Ore.

After the Geoducks took the early lead, Corban’s Josia Sebens took control as the Warriors held the lead for much of the half behind 16 points from Sebens.  The Geoducks hit their shots as well as a three-pointer by Travis Wagner (Federal Way, Wash./Green River CC) with 59 seconds left in the opening half pulled Evergreen within three points at 34-31 heading into the break.

Evergreen saw offense from just three players in the opening period but that trio combined for 11 of 21 shooting as the Geoducks stayed right with the Warriors.  Johnson led the Evergreen first half effort with 12 points, followed by 10 points from Wagner and nine points from junior Cody Peters (Coupeville, Wash./Western Oregon Univ.).

The Geoducks continued to battle back, eventually tying things up at 44-44 with 15:23 on a layup by Johnson and then holding the lead for the next few minutes.  Corban put together an 8-0 run that put them up by six with 11:29 on the clock and the Warriors continued to hit shots, pushing the advantage to 12 points with 6:18 left to play.

A 14-3 run by the Geoducks brought Evergreen within four minutes with 2:35 left to go but the black-clad Geoducks would not be able to get any closer as Corban earned the 76-70 win to sweep the season series.

Evergreen was led by the career-high 24 points from Johnson, who shot nine of 16 from the field, including five-of-ten from behind the arc.  Peters added 15 while Wagner put up 13 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists.  The Geoducks shot 43.3% on the game, making 26-of-60 attempts, including 10-of-27 from three-point range.

Corban was paced by 24 points from Sebens.  Andrew Evans added 15 points while Marcus Butler finished with 13 in the win.  Kent Foster chalked up 10 points off the bench to round out the Warriors in double-digit points.  Corban was sent to the charity stripe 29 times on the game, compared with just 11 for Evergreen, and converted on 21 of those attempts for 72.4%.

Evergreen returns to CRC Gymnasium on Friday night to take on College of Idaho.  Tip with the Yotes is set for 7:30 p.m. as both coaching staffs will be lacing up their sneakers for the annual Coaches vs. Cancer night.  Fans are encouraged to wear pink as the Geoducks will team up with local charities to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

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