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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The No.8 ranked Oregon Tech Hustlin' Owls will take on No. 1 ranked and defending National Champion and overall No.1 seed Indiana Wesleyan in the Quarterfinals Saturday at 2:00 pm (Pacific) at the 28th annual NAIA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship at the Sanford Pentagon.
The Wildcats are out of the Crossroads Conference and received an automatic bid as the Crossroads Tournament Champion with a record of 30-5. They have won three of the last five National Championships (2014, 2016, 2018) It took a buzzer beater for the Wildcats to get out of the second round as Kyle Mangas hit a three-pointer with just two-seconds left lifting them to an 87-86 win over Dakota Wesleyan. Mangas leads the Wildcats as he averages 24 points a game. Senior Evan Maxwell is #3 in the NAIA in field goal percentage at 61% while averaging 17-points and 6-rebounds. As a team they lead the country with a 54% field goal percentage and they shoot the long ball extremely well at 41%.
Oregon Tech beat No. 6 seeded and #22 ranked IU Kokomo (23-9) 84-72 in the Round of 16 to advance to today's quarterfinal, it's the first for the Owls since the won the national championship in 2012. In Friday's win the Owls were down by as many as 11, and by seven (45-38) at the half, Oregon Tech outscored IU Kokomo (Ind.) 46-27 in the second half. The Hustlin' Owls shot 50 percent in that second half and limited the Cougars to just 28 percent over the final 20 minutes. Seth Erickson and Mitchell Fink scored 24 and 23 points, respectively, to lead Owls. While Garret Albrecht pulled down 10 boards and blocked three shots.
Today's matchup will be third all-time meeting between the two school with Indiana Wesleyan winning the previous two-meetings, 84-63 in 2011 and 95-82 in 2007 both games were second round match-ups.
Saturday's game will be broadcast locally on 92.5 KLAD-FM with Bobby Thompson and
Michael Garrard on the call. The
Justin Parnell Coaches Show will start at 1:30 pm with the opening tip to follow.
Full coverage from the national tournament will be available at www.oregontechowls.com
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