COMEBACK EFFORT BY WARRIORS FALLS SHORT AT CORNERSTONE IN WHAC TOURNAMENT

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Warriors made a big second-half push, but it wasn't enough as the team fell to the third-seeded Cornerstone Golden Eagles in the WHAC Tournament Quarterfinal 95-82. After going down by 24 at halftime, the Warriors climbed back to make it an eight-point game with six minutes remaining, but the Golden Eagles rallied to secure the win. Three Warriors - Brody Parker, Brett White, and Gunner Walters - scored at least 20 points in the contest, with Walters shooting a team-best 83.3% from the field. 

THE RUNDOWN

FIRST HALF

The Warriors and Golden Eagles had polar opposite halves in terms of efficiency, with the Golden Eagles jumping out to a 12-point lead seven minutes into the game thanks to some hot three-point shooting. For RCU, points seemed very hard to come by for the first 15 minutes of the game, with shots simply not falling despite some solid set actions. The Warriors were down 43-15 with six minutes remaining in the opening half, but RCU began to flip a switch thanks to a big three from forward Ashton Goul. 

RCU began to attack the basket and found some success at the line, and had success in the midrange, thanks to some signature jumpers by Parker and Walters. Walters began to turn it up as the half wound down, shooting 5-6 from the field, including a jumper late in the half to shorten the wide margin. Still, RCU needed to find answers on the defensive end heading into the second half. 

SECOND HALF

Walters knocked down a jumper to start the second half, and RCU finally found its stride from there, with White drilling a three to cut the deficit to under 20. It was James Fisher's turn to make an impact offensively, with two layups inside to continue to dwindle the deficit. After another brief run by the Golden Eagles, RCU made another push thanks to Walters' hot shooting. A three by the junior guard brought the game to a 10-point margin with ten minutes to go. 

On the next RCU possession, Walters connected with Fisher for a power dunk to give RCU's bench plenty to make noise about heading into the half's second media timeout. White scored on an and-one shortly after to cut the lead to its slimmest of the game so far at eight. Unfortunately for RCU, the Golden Eagles began to get hot on offense again, pushing out to a 16-point lead with two minutes remaining. For RCU, that was going to be just too high of a margin to overcome, with the final score wrapping up at 95-82. 

STAT OF THE GAME

Four Warriors - Parker, Fisher, Walters, and White - scored in double figures in the second half to make the push for RCU. 

Hussein Murray - RCU Athletic Communications

Featured Image: Hannah Mitkus - Hannah Miktus Photography