SALEM, Ore. – The Multnomah University men's basketball team (8-8, 1-5 CCC) took their talents to the C.E. Jeffers Sports Center at Corban University to face off against the Warriors (8-10, 2-6 CCC) and for the first time in school history the Lions are leaving Corban with a win 97-93.

Corban's Jason Smarr scored the first points of the night, but Lions quickly got things started on the offensive end of the floor with a Forrest Smith three, and just two minutes later with 17:20 on the clock Smith got a steal and a dunk to jumpstart the Multnomah offense and bring the traveling Lion fans out of their seats. Smith would rip two more three's in the first half, and the Lions remained red-hot from deep, shooting 10-17 in the first half on their way to a 50-41 lead.

The Lion's ended up shooting 44% on 15-34 from three for the game, and walked away with one of the most memorable victories in program history with a score of 97-93, but it took a team effort to take down the Corban Warriors.

Though this was a great team win, the Lions could not have achieved this win without the nation's leading scorer Justin Martin returning to the starting lineup tonight after missing the last three games. Martin picked up right where he left off, scoring 40 points for the Lions in 33 minutes. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Martin's 40 piece was the fact that he did it while hitting only two three-point shots and using his full arsenal of off-the-dribble moves to score in a variety of ways. Martin made it his goal to get to the foul line often, going 16-17 from the line, beating out his old career high of 14-17 against Warner Pacific last season in the memorable game that he dropped 71 points.

Martin wasn't the only Lion that stepped up big for Bickley's program tonight, as Forrest Smith and Zach Richardson carried over the momentum that they had from the Lions last game vs Portland Bible College. Smith scored 19 points with 8 rebounds while going 5-7 from deep while Richardson scored 15 points going 4-7 from deep while playing some of the best defense of his young career against Corban guard AJ Hodges.

Trey Fountain came in and provided the Lions instant offense off of the Lion bench with his 9 points and 4 assists in only 15 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, Corban had four players score double figures: AJ Hodges led the way with 23 points, followed by Beau Roggenbach and Denis Kirichenko who each had 14 points, and Jason Smarr chipped in with 12 points as well.

An ecstatic Curt Bickley quoted after the game "What a great team win! I could not be prouder of how our team played and the composure our upper classmen played with tonight. What a great game for Justin by finding ways to get to the line, and I was impressed by Forrest leadership on the floor. Zach played some of the best defense I've seen him play, and Trey created for us off the bench."
Up next for the Lions is a matchup against Northwest Christian University in Eugene tomorrow night at 7:30 PM.