Oregon Tech's Scotty Riddle came off the bench to score 12 points in 63-59 victory over The College of Idaho. (photo courtesy Kelly Caleb)
Oregon Tech Holds on for 63-59 Victory over College of Idaho
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – No. 13 ranked Oregon Tech led 61-53 with 3:30 remaining to play and managed to overcome a College of Idaho rally to win 63-59 tonight in the home opener of Cascade Conference play at Danny Miles Court.
Oregon Tech forward Scotty Riddle, seeing his first action in over a month, hit a jumper at the 14 minute mark to tie the contest at 11-11. Both teams continued to battle and with 10 minutes left in the first period the game still remained tied at 19 all. Joseph Foster connected on one of his 10 free-throws to give the Owls some breathing room, 25-19, with 7:15 before the half.
College of Idaho would take control for the remainder of the period, and after a 16-10 run took a 35-34 lead into the locker room.
A Foster triple opened up the second half scoring for the Owls that would eventually give Tech a 41-37 advantage with 16 minutes to play.
College of Idaho bounced back to take a 43-42 lead, but it was the Owls that regained control at the midway point of the second stanza, leading 50-47. Oregon Tech would go up six points with six minutes to play, and when Foster and Kyle Gomez each connected on a single free-throw each the Owls took their largest lead of the night, 61-53 with 3:30 to play.
C of I’s Matt Ballenger answered with a 3-pointer to cut the Yotes deficit to five points, and on the next possession came away with a jumper to cut it to 61-58 with just over two minutes remaining.
Both teams went scoreless over the next two minutes, with the Yotes getting a great look to tie the contest on a Ballenger unchallenged 3-pointer with 15 ticks. The shot just missed, but C of I came up with the rebound and was fouled with nine seconds on the clock. Kelly McCarty would hit the first freebie but miss the second and had to foul.
Tech’s Scotty Riddle would nail down the game on two makes from the free-throw line to make it 63-59 as the final horn sounded.
Four Owls finished in double figures, led by a game-high 19 points from Joseph Foster. Scotty Riddle, in his first game back from injury, came up with 12 points, followed by 10 each from Kyle Gomez and Bryant Sentman. Gomez grabbed 10 rebounds to go with five assists for his double-double effort.
Matt Ballenger led the Yotes with 16 points, while Steve Peres and Kelly McCarty combined for 17.
The win pushes Oregon Tech’s home win streak to 44-straight, while the Owls move to 11-2 overall and 3-0 in the CCC. College of Idaho drops to 4-10 on the season and 1-2 in the conference standings.