Hustlin' Owls Fly Past Raiders
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore.- Oregon Tech’s Brandon Halter hit back-to-back three pointers in the final 90 seconds of play to lift the Owls past Southern Oregon 89-82 in non-conference action Friday night at Danny Miles Court. Oregon Tech improves to 2-2 on the year with Southern Oregon suffering their first loss to drop to 3-1.
The game was tied 9 times with 7 lead changes in the first half.
Tech tied the game at 27 on a Joel Yellow Owl lay-up at the seven minute mark.
A pair of Ben DeSaulnier free throws tied things up again at 29 at the 5:25 mark.
Kenny Meyer also hit two freebies to extend Southern Oregon’s lead to 38-35.
Each team added a bucket before they headed to the locker with SOU leading 40-37 at the half. SOU had a big 26-16 rebounding advantage in that first half with each team going 15-33 from the floor.
Tech started the second half on a 7-0 run to take a 44-43 lead at the 17:10 mark on a Yellow Owl lay-up.
The Raider answered with a 9-0 run of their own to take a 52-44 lead after a Meyer lay-up and free throw.
A Big Bryan Beard two-hand slam-dunk (Pictured by Kelly Caleb) brought the 1142 fans on their feet and cut the SOU lead to 52-46 giving OIT the momentum.
Tech continued to inch closer, and a Chris Faust slam tied the game at 72 with 6:00 to play.
The two teams battled back and forth with Tristan Holmes hitting a pair of free throws to give SOU a 3-point lead 82-79 with 1:26 to play.
Enter Halter, off a set play, he got open in the corner and knocked down a huge three pointer tie the game 82 with 1:23 to play.
Halter then grabbed the rebound off a missed jumper by Meyer. Tech called time-out with 47-seconds remaining. Out of the time-out, the Hooter once again found Halter who nailed a 30 footer to give OIT it’s largest lead of the night at 85-82.
After the Raiders missed a pair of free-throws Tech’s Faust grabbed the rebound but lost the ball out of bounds giving the Raiders the ball back with: 28 seconds remaining.
Andrew Weber then made the defense play of the night coming up with a big steal with just 23 seconds remaining. SOU was forced to foul and Tyler Hieb and Jalen Carvalho each hit a pair of free throws to give Tech the 89-82 win.
Yellow Owl led Tech with 29 points with Halter adding 19 points on 5-7 from long range and Bryan Beard adding a double-double, 16 points and 10 rebounds.
SOU was led by Holmes 18 points with Meyer adding 17 points and Ben DeSoulnier and Jordan Hunt each chipping in 12 points in the loss.
Tech will head to Arcata, California next Tuesday with a match-up against NCAA DII Humboldt State at 7:30 pm that can be heard on 92-5 KLAD FM with the Coach's Show at 7:00 pm. Southern Oregon will come back to Klamath Falls next Friday, November 19th for the Midland Empire Insurance Classic for a match-up with La Sierra College at 1:00 pm at Danny Miles Court.