Lavar Moore poured in 30 points to lead Oregon Tech to a 64-62 win over Northwest University. (photo by Kelly Caleb)
Moore’s 30 Leads Tech Past Northwest
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.–Oregon Tech battled from nine down in the second half, and when a 10 foot runner for Northwest at the buzzer rolled around and out, the Hustlin’ Owls earned a 64-62 win tonight in Cascade Conference men’s basketball action at Danny Miles Court.
Oregon Tech improved to 11-6 on the season and 4-3 in CCC play. NU fell to 12-6 overall and even in CCC action at 3-3.
Oregon Tech and Northwest battled through six ties in the first half, the last at 21-all with 4:42 to go, before back-to-back Tomas Ogbaslassie triples propelled the Eagles to a 27-21 lead just a minute later.
Three Lavar Moore (pictured) free throws, and a Tyler Van Kirk basket down the stretch, closed out the scoring for the Owls in the opening period as the home team trailed 28-26 at the intermission.
NU marched out to a 9-2 run to open the second period sending the Owls to their biggest deficit of the contest, 37-28, with 14:47 remaining.
Lavar Moore would connect from long range on Tech’s next possession, spurring a 10-0 run, as the Owls took their first lead since five minutes to go in the first half at 38-37.
NU, however, regained a 41-40 advantage on a Cody Shackett field goal, but it was all Tech over the next five minutes, moving up by double-digits on an Austen Flint trey with 5:12 to go, 54-44.
The Eagles closed to five points, 49-44, but a short jumper from Moore pushed the lead back to 10 points at 58-48.
NU managed a comeback using a Jeremy Paull triple, followed by back-to-back treys from Ogbaslassie, to pull to within 63-60 with 45 seconds remaining.
With time winding down, NU’s Thomas Jordan stole the ball going the length of the floor for a layup to cut the Eagles’ margin to 63-62 with under 10 seconds on the clock.
Tech’s inbound pass went to Lavar Moore where the junior guard hit his first free throw attempt but with a miss on his second gave NU the chance to tie or win.
The Eagles, off the miss, took the ball the length and when a runner from the free throw line rolled around and out Oregon Tech secured the two point win 64-62.
Lavar Moore poured in a game-high 30 points, while Austen Flint added 12 in the win. They were the only two Owls to reach double-figures. Josh Johnson tacked on eight points, including 2-for-2 from the 3-point line, to go with four rebounds and four assists in the win. Bryan Beard grabbed eight rebounds and Tyler Van Kirk seven with Brandon Bautista handing out seven assists on the night.
CJ Carter led the Eagles with 14 points followed by Tomas Ogbaslassie with 13 and Nemanja Grujicic with 11 points in the loss.