Oregon Tech's Christian Cavanaugh gets a huge dunk as Tech wins 69-47 (Photo by Kelly Caleb)
OIT Downs Iowa Wesleyan 69-47 to Advance in Tourney
POINT LOOKOUT, Mo. – Senior forward Josh Wetzler scored a game-high 19 points and pulled down 16 rebounds Wednesday night to lead seventh-seeded Oregon Tech to a 69-47 victory over Iowa Wesleyan College in the opening round of the NAIA Division II men’s basketball championships. The 32-team tournament is being played at Keeter Gymnasium on the campus of the College of the Ozarks.
OIT (29-5), the defending national champion, advanced to the second round of the tournament on Friday at 8:15 a.m. PDT, when it will take on unseeded Bellevue (Neb.), which upset 10th-seeded Mount Vernon Nazarene earlier in the day. Iowa Wesleyan, the champion of the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament, ended its season 20-11.
Wetzler, a 6-7, 240-pounder who hit eight of 10 shots from the field, did most of his damage inside on putbacks. Of his 16 rebounds, nine came at the offensive end. Guard Jguwon Hogges added 13 points for the Hustlin’ Owls, who posted their seventh consecutive victory this season and sixth straight in the national tournament.
A strong defensive effort by the Owls kept the Tigers in check the entire game. Iowa Wesleyan scored 32 points fewer than its season average, and two-time All-American Brett Humpal never was able to be in a position to hurt OIT. Humpal finished with a team-high 18 points, two below his season average.
The Owls led 36-25 at halftime.
OIT’s win was its 26th in 11 tournament appearances, an NAIA Division II record. It also gave the Cascade Collegiate Conference a 2-0 start in the tournament. Earlier Wednesday, 23rd-ranked Evergreen staged a furious second-half comeback to post a 101-86 win over eighth-seeded Bluefield (Va.). On Thursday, the other two CCC entrants – Warner Pacific and Eastern Oregon – play their opening-round games.