Kyle Gomez drives for two of his 17 points in 78-63 victory over Northwest University. (photo by Kelly Caleb)
No. 13 Oregon Tech Rolls Past No. 11 Northwest
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – The Oregon Tech men’s basketball team led by 15 at the half and held off a late rally from No. 11 ranked Northwest University winning tonight at Danny Miles Court by a 78-63 final.
Thirteenth-ranked Oregon Tech and Eleventh-ranked Northwest University kept it close during the first four minutes of play, with the Owls leading just 9-8.
Tech’s Joseph Foster would connect on three consecutive free-throws to double up the Eagles and give OIT their first double-digit lead of the contest at 20-10. The Owls would continue to cling to a 10 point advantage with 7:52 remaining. The remainder of the first period was all Oregon Tech as a Kyle Gomez triple and Bryant Sentman short jumper sent the home team into halftime with a 45-30 lead.
Gomez would stroke another basket from long range to open the second half scoring, and then give the Owls their first 20 point advantage of the game on a 15 footer to make it 52-32 with 16:51 to play.
NU did not go away easily as an ensuing 11-0 Eagle run made things interesting between the top-15 teams. NU pushed back to single digits, 52-43, over the next two minutes of play.
Oregon Tech answered with a 13-4 run, capped by a Scotty Riddle short jumper, making it 65-47 with 8:42 remaining on the clock.
The Eagles once again clawed their way back and with 5:37 to play trailed by a 67-60 score.
If Foster’s 28-footer as the shot clock was winding down wasn’t the dagger, a key block by Bryant Sentman leading to two Foster free-throws was, as OIT pushed the lead back to 12 with just under four minutes to play.
A Matt Smith jumper with just over three minutes to play salted the game, as the OIT defense only allowed NU three points over the last six minutes to win by a 78-63 final.
Joseph Foster led all scorers with 21 points while grabbing four rebounds. Kyle Gomez and Bryant Sentman knocked down 17 points each and would combine for seven boards. Matt Smith finished with a game-high seven assists, while Brent Johnson followed with six assists, five points and three boards.
Daley Landon led the Eagle attack with 19 points, followed by Greg Peters and Stedman Richardson with 10 points apiece. The duo would also combine for 10 rebounds in the loss for NU.
The Owls, in a game where they will don pink uniforms, will face The Evergreen State College Saturday beginning at 5:30 PM in Oregon Tech’s 2nd annual “Pink Out” game to raise cancer awareness.