via Oregon Tech Athletic Communications
Oregon Tech 122, Evergreen State 92
Blake Jensen scored a career-high 30 points, helping Oregon Tech to their highest scoring total in seven seasons, using a big second half to roll past Evergreen State, 122-92, at Costantino Recreation Center.
The No. 24-ranked Hustlin’ Owls (16-4, 12-2 CCC) posted their highest scoring game since scoring 122 vs. Northwest Indian College in the 2017-18 season. It was the third highest scoring total in a conference game in program history – trailing only 124-point nights vs. Western Baptist (1990) and Evergreen State (2006).
While Jensen dominated the block, the Owls made a season-high 15 3-pointers – including 9-in-a-row spanning the two halves.
The Geoducks (1-16, 1-13) hung around in the first half, pulling within 38-37 on a Solomon Campbell jumper with just under four minutes left in the period. A 5-point possession, starting with a 3-point play from Dakota Reber, helped by a TESC technical foul, started a 28-8 run over the next six minutes of game time.
Keegan Shivers canned consecutive triples just before the break to give the Owls a 52-41 lead – adding a pair early in the second half. Kam Osborn added three long 3’s, with Erik Fraser and Jay Elmore each knocking down one – as the lead grew to 68-50 just three minutes into the second half.
Tech put the game away midway through the half, as a Reber baseline dunk started a 12-0 run, capped by a Jensen 3-point play, extending the margin to 99-73.
Jensen was the story, finishing the night 9-of-10 from the field and 12-of-13 from the line – the first 30-point game in three seasons for the club.
Both Shivers and Osborn scored 20 – the first time the Hustlin’ Owls have had three players score 20-or-more points since the 2017-18 season. Shivers became the fourth OIT player to score 1,500 points for his career with a first half runner, while moving two 3-pointers away from breaking Tech’s all-time record. Osborn made a career-high six 3-pointers in the victory.
All 13 players who took the floor for Tech scored in the win, as Reber and Jackson Cooper each scored nine, Fraser scored eight and Elmore added seven.
Bradley Graham led TESC with 21 points and Campbell scored 18 in the Geoducks 18th-straight loss to OIT.
Northwest 80, Oregon Tech 78
Nash Wobrock hit two free throws with five seconds left and Northwest University withstood a last-second Oregon Tech jumper that rimmed out, as the Eagles upset the No. 24-ranked Owls, 80-78, inside Kristi Brodin Pavilion.
NU (4-17, 3-12 CCC) broke the 13th tie of the night after Wobrock was fouled on a drive to basket – swishing both attempts from the line. OIT had a final push, as Jamison Guerra sprinted the length of the full, taking a potential game-tying 8-foot jumper in the paint as time expired, but the shot rattled out.
Both teams had big runs – as the Eagles held Tech to one made field goal in a seven-minute stretch of the first half to take a 21-10 lead. The Owls (16-5, 12-3) answered by scoring the next 17 points, including two Dakota Reber lay-ups and a Blake Jensen 3-point play – taking their largest lead of the night at 27-21.
Tech led 63-61 inside the final eight minutes, but Trent Williams hit a triple and Manuel Zapater scored in transition, part of a 9-0 run that gave NU a 70-63 lead. Kam Osborn responded with back-to-back 3’s and Jay Elmore added another, tying the score at 72-72 with just over four minutes left.
Tied at 76-76 inside the final minute, Wobrock converted a tough drive in the paint to give the Eagles a lead, but Osborn answered for Tech with a fall-away 10-footer on the baseline with 26 seconds remaining – setting up the finish.
Osborn scored 17 of his team-high 19 points in the second half and Jensen posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Keegan Shivers scored 13, with a second half 3-pointer tying Bob Townsend for the OIT all-time lead in 3-pointers made with 272. Guerra had 11 points, with a first half assist pushing his career total over 600.
Williams scored a season-high 20 points for NU, with Wobrock scoring 18 and Zapater posting 14.
OIT closes out the road trip on Tuesday, traveling to Ashland for a rivalry match-up at Southern Oregon.
