KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Freshman
Harrison Steiger scored a career high 14 points off the bench to help Oregon Tech (5-3) get past NAIA Division I William Jessup (6-2) 71-68 in the final game of the Lithia Toyota Classic at Danny Miles Court.
Oregon Tech never trailed in the game that was tied only once at 39.
Tech took a 15-7 lead at the 12:44 mark on a Steiger dunk that brought the crowd to their feet.
OIT had its biggest lead of the game at 28-14 after
Seth Erickson layup with 5:10 remaining in the first half. The Warriors battled right back with a 15-2 run of their own to make it 30-29 with 90 seconds remaining in the half. Tech answered with a small 4-0 run to end the half with a 34-29 lead.
Mitchell Fink hit a three ball to give the Owls a 39-31 lead two minutes into the second half. Quickly the Warriors rolled off eight straight to tie the game at 39.
Tech then went on a 13-2 run capped-off by a
Zach Bernards three pointer as the Owls went up 52-41 with 11:00 minutes to play.
WJU cut the OIT lead to just five at 63-58 on a PJ Posey jumper with 4:46 remaining. Antonio Lewis then hit a layup to cut the Tech lead to just two points at 66-64 with 2:25 left.
Oregon Tech answered with a 5-0 run to get the lead back to seven points with just 17 seconds left then held on for the win as a Brandon Lindsey three-point attempt fell short for William Jessup as time expired giving the Hooter the 3-point win.
Fink led OIT with 18 points followed by Steiger with his 14 and
Seth Erickson with 12 points.
The Owls will next travel to Portland for a Sunday evening game against Head Coach Terry Porter and his University of Portland Pilots at 5:00 pm in the Chiles Center. The game will be broadcast locally on 92.5 KLAD-FM with the pre-game starting at 4:30 pm.
