Oregon Tech's Kyle Gomez (Photo by Kelly Caleb)
No. 2 Oregon Tech to Play Warner Pacific Knights for CCC Tournament Crown
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Behind one of the best defensive efforts of the season, top-seeded Oregon Tech held on for a 71-56 win over five-seed Northwest University in tonight’s Cascade Collegiate Conference semifinal round. The Hustlin’ Owls will look for back-to-back Conference tournament titles when they host three-seeded Warner Pacific on Tuesday, March 2nd in the championship game. Warner Pacific defeated Eastern Oregon in La Grande to move to the conference title game against the Owls.
No. 2 Oregon Tech moves to 28-4 overall, while Northwest ends their season with a 17-14 mark
It was all Oregon Tech to begin the game, as the No. 2 ranked Hustlin’ Owls sprinted out to a 20-4 advantage at the midway point of the first period. The Owls took their largest lead of the half at 17 points on two occasions, the last on a Justin Parnell triple, that gave the home team a 32-15 lead with 4:46 on the clock.
Northwest would close out the first half on a 6-0 run as the Owls held a 32-21 edge heading into the intermission.
Greg George scored the first basket of the second stanza to get the Eagles back to single digits at 32-23. But points were difficult to come by as the Owls could only manage to bump the lead to 36-24 over the next six minutes of play.
A 10-4 Owls run, capped off by a Kyle Gomez trey, all but assured Tech a spot in the title game, while the Owls still held on to a 48-31 lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Eagles clawed back to within 11 points at the 7:10 mark, but the Owls would not allow NU to get any closer, as Tech pulled away to win by a 71-56 final.
Four Owls finished in double-digits led by a double-double 15 points and 10 rebounds from senior guard Justin Parnell. Parnell also added a game-high four assists in the win. Kyle Gomez netted 14 points, including 3-for-5 from the 3-point line and four rebounds. Myles Daley was good for 11 points, followed by 10 points and nine rebounds from Andy Siverly.
NU’s Blake Solomon finished with a game-high 17 for the Eagles in the loss, while Tyson Christie hit for 10. Greg George and Tyler Mendezona combined for 17 points and seven boards.